


A Hat in Time After Story

by SimpleCrow



Category: A Hat in Time (Video Game)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-26
Updated: 2020-04-21
Packaged: 2021-02-26 00:01:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 20
Words: 149,842
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21974017
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SimpleCrow/pseuds/SimpleCrow
Summary: A Hat in Time After Story is a story taking place after the events of A Hat in Time, from a first person perspective, where Hat Kid is stuck near the planet she tried to escape. But it's not so bad, after all, she does have her friends to keep her company!...right?
Relationships: Hat Kid & Snatcher (A Hat in Time), Hat Kid/Mustache Girl (A Hat in Time)
Comments: 85
Kudos: 293





	1. Life on my Ship!

# Chapter one:Life on my Ship! 

Sleep. Sound...asleep. That's what I was. I dreamt pleasant dreams. Dreams of deserts, becoming large green mountains. Dreams of space. Dreams of dreaming. Dreaming dreams about dreaming...in dreams.

"GOOD MORNING KIDDO!" Snatcher shouted at the side of my bed, making me jump out of bed and slam my face into the top of it, before falling back onto the mattress.

"Ugh...hey Snatcher...did you really need to do that again?" I rolled off of the bed with a thump, as my hat gently floated from my bedside desk and onto my head.

"Why do you ask? Don't you like me waking you up every morning before that annoying alarm of yours?" Snatcher grinned, picking me up and placing me on the ground, patting my hat.

"No actually...don't do that...please?" I politely asked him, rubbing my head.

"You don't like it? GUESS I'LL JUST NEED TO WAKE YOU UP EARLIER THEN KID! AHAHAHHAHA!" Snatcher laughed, wiping a non-existent tear from his eye.

"Woo..." I began stretching my arms up, as if cheering, letting out a yawn.

"Hey look on the bright side kiddo! At least being angry with me for months has made you become more talkative! And hey! That's what best friends are for! AHAHAHAHAA!" Snatcher laughed again.

"Uh-huh." I faintly agreed.

After I gave away the last Time Peice I needed to get home, I've been sort of stuck near this planet. Now, on the bright side I did get to see all my friends again. And I guess Snatcher is right about the talking thing? I've always been kinda quiet, so having someone around every morning to speak to has been...surprisingly helpful actually!

"You know what Snatcher? Yeah. That's what best friends are for. Thanks buddy!" I happily exclaimed, hugging his ghostly body and then letting go, walking away.

"Y-...you...WHAT?! BUDDY?!" Snatcher shouted, confused and angry.

He then flew in front of me, blocking the exit, with his out stretched arms as he stood(?) above the door.

"Listen KID! First off, I'm not your friend. I'm here to torment you, until you inevitably die by hand. DO YOU UNDERTSAND ME!?" Snatcher roared in my face, as I stood with my hands behind my back, smiling.

"Uh-huh! And thank you for being with me when that time comes!" I smiled at him, walking under my spooky pal.

"...WHAT? DON'T YOU WALK AWAY FROM ME! WE AREN'T FRIENDS! A-a-and that hug? Guess what? I didn't feel it! Becuase I'm dead! So there! Ha!" Snatcher shouted after me as I walked down the hall.

"You might not have felt it! But you sure did feel my appreciation for you! Bestie!" I shouted back to him, walking away confidently.

Then, I stepped into the main room of my ship. Same as it always was. Same burger cushion, same tiny owl train, sa-

"Ow my circuit board." Rumbi complained as it span in a circle after hitting my foot.

I giggled, then bent down to pick it up.

"Good morning Rumbi!" I happily exclaimed, turing it's face towards me.

"Good morning!" It cheerfully (and robotically) replied, as I put it down.

I then began skipping through my ship. Saying hi to the Mafia in my mail room and the Mafia boss, before walking into the kitchen, hungry. 

"Well hoooowwwdddyyyy!" Cooking Cat greeted as I walked in, pouring myself some colorful cerial. The best cerial.

"Howdy!" I giggled, before walking out if the kitchen. But not before smelling the delicious pancakes Cooking Cat was making.

I then plopped myself down on my rug, staring at the ceiling as I began to eat my cerial...but this peace didn't last long.

"WHY HELLO THERE!" Snatcher jumped in front of me, waving his arms around, shrieking.

"Hello! Want some cerial?" I offered, giggling.

"HAAHAHAH! FOOOOOO-...wait. That always gets you. Why didn't you jump out of your skin, then break another hole in the ceiling?" Snatcher asked, confused.

"Well, maybe you just aren't scary anymore? You're pretty funny! Oh! Maybe you should be a comedian!" I suggested, beaming at him. As he was appalled, visibly insulted at this idea.

"ME?! NOT SCARY?! Kid. You better take that back. I AM scary! You KNOW I'm scary! I'm terrifying! I'm horrifying! I'm-," I stopped him.

"Well it gets old after a couple months of it. Maybe try something different next time? I could give you some pointers." I offered again.

"You? Teach me? Don't make me laugh kiddo. I've been around a lot longer than you have, so believe me I know scary!" Snatcher boasted.

"Why what is all the ruckus going on in here? Calm down guys, I brought pancakes!" Cooking Cat began walking out of the kitchen with a plate of five, syrup covered pancakes.

"Ooooooohhhhhh yummy!" I excitedly said, as Cooking Cat sat the plate down in front of me.

"Why thank you! Do you want a plate Mr.Ghost man?" Cooking Cat asked.

"It's Snatcher. And no, I would NOT like a plate. Souls taste much better than whatever is in THAT!" Snatcher pointed at me, eating away happily.

"Mmmmmmmm yummy..." I uttered, mouth full of pancake.

Snatcher stared at me, licking his non-existent lips.

"Well, what I meant to say is...I literally can't eat them." Snatcher corrected himself, still looking at me. 

"Now. What do you say to Cooking Cat for being so rude?" I asked him.

"...do you want to sign a contract?" Snatcher grinned.

"Haha, no silly! You say sorry!" I giggled.

"I swear, one minute you have nerves stronger than steel. The next I'm talking to a five year old." Snatcher placed his hand on his face, groaning.

"I'm not five!" I responded, slightly offended.

"Then how old ARE you kiddo? Tell me, so I can decide if I should buy a book on how to kill toddlers or teenagers!" Snatcher smiled.

"Well in that case I won't tell you! Hmph!" I folded my arms, turning away from Snatcher.

"Oh come on kiddo! I'd never want to kill you! Promise! I'd pinky promise like you kids do, but I only have two fingers." Snatcher continued to grin.

"Really?" I turned back to him, not believing him for a second, yet just wanting to see where this was going.

"Yeah! You have my word kiddo! Now, how about you eat those pancakes and then do some contr-," Snatcher was then stopped my ship's alarm.

"INTRUDER ALERT! INTRUDER ALERT!" The alarm wailed.

"Oh! Oh ow! OH MY NON-EXISTENT EARS ARE RINGING! TURN THAT THING OFF!" Snatcher wailed in the pain he was clearly faking. Yet I ran to the switch at the driver's seat to turn it off anyway.

"Done! Now...who's on board?" I wondered, looking around, seeing no one.

Yet what I did see, was the planet in front of me was coated in a large, bright, white light. One that wouldn't go away. So, covering my eyes, I ran to the bedroom, seeing nobody. Then, I went to go find the Mafia Boss, to see if he had some giant sunglasses for sale or something. But, I noticed he was facing away from me...and towards a Mafia member stuck in my glass window!

"CHILD! Quickly! There is innocent man stuck in glass! Help him immediately, or I will slap you with my nose!" The Mafia Boss threatend me, unintimidatingly.

I also noticed the light behind the window had finally cleared. But I had to save this Mafia! So, I ran over to him.

"Are you ok?" I asked, concerned, trying to pull him into the ship and avoiding the glass on the floor.

"No. But do not worry. Mafia plug up hole in ship with body for now. But child, Mafia thinks you should you should look over at Mafia town! Bad things happened in HQ, now Maifa town needs little Hat Kid's help!" The Mafia pleaded.

I looked past him, thinking I'd pull him out when I have some wood to plug up the hole. When I noticed that Mafia town...was coated in an all too familiar layer of lava...


	2. You are all Good Guys?

I immediately knew what was going on. Putting on my sprint hat, so I could get to the front of my ship faster, I ran and jumped into my seat. Pressing various buttons and pulling on levers.

"Sooooooo...what are all these gadgets and whatnot supposed to do anyway? Or are you just pressing them all to look smart?" Snatcher flew next to me, curiously asking as he placed a hand on my chair.

"I'm scanning Mafia Town for a Time Peice. And no, I'm not trying to look smart or anything. I do that without trying." I explained smugly, much to The Snatcher's frustration.

"Whatever. I don't care. Just go down there and die or something...wait, then I'd DEFINETLY CARE! AHAHAHAHAHAA!" The Snatcher chuckled to himself, floating away, probably towards my room.

I ignored what he said. I'd talk with him again about being nice once I got back, since there actually was a Time Peice in Mafia Town! Meaning, I had to go get it, which is something I haven't had to do for a while. Although, there was something strange about this Time Peice signal. It was strong. Almost as if there was...more than one there? But how? I only left one there months ago!

I then flew my ship over Mafia Town, entering the planet's atmosphere so I could go down there and see just what was going on.

Once I got off, I immediately regretted not bringing a fan. The heat was, once again, unbearable. I could see numerous Mafia members all running around, trying to find water to cool off their burning clothes. I looked around for a source of water, yet couldn't find any. Even the swimming pools had been replaced with lava! Which was...odd. I saw one Mafia member running towards me, patting down the fire on his shoulder.

"Little Hat Kid? Is that you? Oh, Mafia is saved! Child! HQ was invaded by other child! Then, Mafia was walking around town when suddenly all water is gone! And look!" The Mafia explained as he pointed at a lava faucet attached to a building.

It was...off? That...doesn't make sense. How could it be turned off, yet there was lava everywhere!?

"As you can see child, Mafia is in strange predicament. Mafia unsure of what to do!" The Mafia member worriedly told me.

"It'll be ok, I've stopped her before so I can do it again! Don't you worry!" I told the Mafia member confidently.

"Child speak to Mafia? Um, Mafia apologise. Whenever child does that now, Mafia is never used to it." The Mafia member replied.

"That's fine. Now, go find somewhere to cool off and...not be on fire." I encouraged.

He then ran off, so I did the same. I ran towards the centre of Mafia Town running and jumping over lava and onto buildings. Sweating intensely. That heat was awful! I was super paranoid about getting my cape on fire! And it was a miracle it hadn't happened the first two times Mafia Town was covered in lava, during my fifth visit here and when The Snatcher gave me that contract! Well, it wasn't as hot as during the contract, but it was pretty close!

Once I finally reached the Mafia HQ it looked...certainly different. The door was wide open, and the cardboard Mafia members on the front of the building were gone. Instead replaced with a golden Mustache.

"Well that figures." I muttered to myself, disappointed.

After I defeated her months ago and gave her that Time Peice, I hadn't seen her since. So it was pretty unfortunate to find that she was up to no good yet again. On the plus side, I guess I'll get that Time Peice back and be able to leave this planet...yay...

Mustache girl made no attempt to hide that she had caused all this. Due to the interior being a large throne room, completely replacing the casino. Portraits of Mustache girl were hung on the walls, as well as red curtains covering the windows. The only thing similar to the previous HQ was that Mustache girl's throne was on a stage, complete with stage lights and curtains.

And there she was. Sitting in her throne, with five Time Peices in hand. Mustache girl was staring at them confidently, before noticing me and looking my way. Strangely, she...got up from the chair and smiled, running towards me?

"Hat Kid! You are JUST the person I wanted to see!" Mustache girl exclaimed excitedly as she slowed her pace as she got closer.

I pulled out my umbrella, sensing danger. She was lucky I didn't bring my baseball bat. Still, the umbrella made her stop running, even if she wasn't too far away from me anyway.

"Woah there! Now look. I get you still think I'm the bad guy here, and the state of Mafia Town REALLY doesn't help my case, but hear me out a sec! I just want to talk!" Mustache girl explained, raising her arms.

"Hmmm...no tricks this time?" I interrogated, not lowering the umbrella.

"No tri-wait did you just answer me?" Mustache girl was compelety baffled.

"Yeah, I did. We can talk about that later if you want, as long as you aren't about to backstab me again, ok?" I told her, waiting for her answer.

"Ok! I won't backstab you or anything! I just wanna chat!" She responded.

Slowly, I lowered the umbrella. Still, I didn't trust her, but I'd hear her out. Mustache girl came up to me and began to speak, smiling as she did.

"It's been a bit hasn't it? How've you been Hat Kid? And um...how come you're speaking to me now? I thought you were like, literally the, 'actions speak louder than words,' kinda person?" Mustache girl asked, interested.

"I've been good. Just hanging out with friends on the ship, going to places on the planet. The usual. Turns out being around them for so long made me a little less shy, huh? So how about you?" I shrugged.

"Well, I've been doing lots of thinking and junk recently." Mustache girl returned the shrug, walking back to her throne. I followed her, keeping up with her sudden walk.

"About what?" I curiously questioned her.

She took a deep breath before stopping and answering.

"I've been thinking...about your friends." She sighed.

"My, friends?" I raised an eyebrow, more confused.

"Basically, after I woke up in Mafia Town after you and your friends beat me I found...a Time Peice." Mustache girl explained.

She took another deep breath.

"Now, I thought you took all the Time Peices from Mafia Town already so I was SUPER confused. But still, I took it back to my cave and just...stared at it. Thinking about what happened earlier that day. About how I tried to stop bad guys and how everyone called me the bad guy for doing that. It honestly confused me, like, it was pretty hard to wrap my head around. Before it finally clicked. They...aren't bad guys." Mustache girl admitted, still talking.

This shocked me. Did she...really just say that? Go back on her beliefs that almost caused the end of time those months ago? Had she finally come to her senses? But then why did she fill Mafia Town with lava again?

"Then...what are they to you?" I asked, more curious than ever.

"They aren't good guys, or bad guys. I saw how they all supported you, encouraged you and cared for you! That's...not something a bad guy does. Now, they certainly weren't good guys don't get me wrong, there were some TERRIBLE people there! But, even they've done some good stuff in their lives. Which got me thinking. What if...I could turn these 'bad guys' into, well. Good guys. Like you! And do it all without the threat of death! Unlike...last time." Mustache girl exclaimed, rubbing one arm with the other, a little resentful.

"And how are you going to do that?" I interrogated, placing a hand on my umbrella, just in case.

"Well, that's what I thought at the time. Before realising the answer was literally staring me right in the face. What makes someone go bad? Mistakes. So what could fix those mistakes? Time travel! Now, I know you don't like that idea but hear me out. I broke that Time Peice, then went back in time to go find more. I did, but it took WAAAAAAAAAY longer than I thought it would! So what did I do? Well, I broke another. But this time I used it's powers to take over the HQ and replace all the water in Mafia Town with lava!" Mustache girl exclaimed happily.

"But uh...why? I thought you wanted to help people?" I questioned, not knowing where this was going.

"I did it to get your attention. I mean, who wouldn't spot a big flash of light and some lava? The reason why I needed your attention, is because I need your help. You have a TON of Time Peices, right? Maybe even enough for each person on the planet to have one! I've seen that vault Hat Kid, there's a LOT more than like, thirty something in there." Mustache girl said to me.

While she was correct, there were more than the counter said (even more now after exploring the S.S literally can't sink and the Nyakuza Metro), they were there for a reason. Without all of them, the ship would essentially stop functioning. The counter next to it only showed how many Time Peices were currently being used for space travel and electricity, not other functions of the ship. And it's not like they were replaceable either. If I lost more than forty Time Peices the first time I landed on this planet, my ship would be dead in the water...or space. So I didn't like where this was going.

"Hat Kid. What I want to do is give every person on this planet a chance to change for the better. To create the ideal future, where some terrible mistake they've made can be undone. Getting rid of a majority of bad guys and helping them be better!" Mustache girl enthusiasticly told me.

I was about to completely object, to point out how utterly ridiculous the idea was, before she spoke again, pulling out a Time Peice from beneath her robe.

"Now look. I know this is gonna be a pretty big decision for you. So, I'm going to send you back to your ship. Give you time to think this all over, you know? I'll see you tomorrow...and Hat Kid? I think we could try and to be friends again." Mustache girl smiled at me, one last time.

Before I could stop her, she threw the Time Peice at my feet, and in a blur of light I was transported back onto the centre of my ship.

"Oh boy..." I groaned, getting a sense of deja vu.

I mean, the idea wasn't TERRIBLE on paper. The problem was not only would that strand me on this planet basically forever, I know from expirence that this wouldn't change people who already aren't...the nicest. It might even make people who ARE normally genuinely good people go bad, from the power this would provide!

I needed to get my mind off of all this, so I headed back to my room, with a headache. Ready to lie on my bed.

"Well you're back early." Snatcher remarked, not looking up from his book.

"Too early." I responded, jumping onto my bed, staring up at the ceiling of...my bed.

"What's the matter kiddo? Was that adventure too easy for you? Maybe I could make some more contracts for you! Maybe they'd be more entertaining!" Snatcher pondered the idea.

"Not feeling up for more contracts buddy. I just wanna lie down for a minute." I told him, sighing.

"How many times do I have to tell you that I'm not your buddy, your friend, your ally, your best friend, your pal or whatever you call me! I. Don't. Like you." Snatcher angrily hissed at me.

I turned to face him.

"Then why do you stay here?" I asked, smirking.

"To torture you with my contracts!" Snatcher happily told me.

"But I completed every death wish a couple months ago." I replied.

"And the-," I cut Snatcher off, bringing out my map.

"And the bonus objectives." I showed him, as he leaned forward to check the map.

I began smirking again.

"So go on. If you're out of ways to kill me, if you really want to do that, then why do you stay?" I asked.

"Well kiddo I-...shut up." Snatcher buried his head in his book, mumbling to himself.

After lying down for a couple minutes, I got up and began to draw at my desk, getting out all my crayons. My only trouble was figuring out what to draw. I wanted to draw myself, but I wanted to be doing something. Or maybe...be with someone? My eyes drifted back to The Snatcher as I chuckled to myself and began doodling.

"Hey Snatchy! Look what I did!" I told him happily.

"What? Did you finally tear up that contract you vandalised? Also don't call me Snatchy, kid. Or else I'll eat that soul of yours." Snatcher threatened me, yet lacked care in his voice, clearly in a bad mood.

"Somebody's a little grumpy!" I giggled.

"Kid you know I have a VERY good reason to be angry." Snatcher replied through gritted...teeth? Were those teeth? I can't really tell.

"Maybe this will cheer you up a little!" I beamed, holding out the drawing in front of me.

It was of The Snatcher and I, both having our arms around each other. I liked it, and thought it would look great on my wall! Snatcher finally glanced up from his book, then placed in down and took my drawing.

"Kid? You drew this...for me?" Snatcher probably didn't know what to think, I figured.

"Sure did buddy!" I smiled, causing him to glare at me for a second for calling him that again.

"Well...I've never had someone do...anything nice for me kiddo...why DID you do this?" Snatcher asked, confused.

"Because we're friends!" I exclaimed, hugging his body.

Like before, it was cold. VERY cold. It felt like I was touching nothing, yet something frigid and spiked at the same time. But I persisted, much to The Snatcher's discomfort.

"I don't know what you see in me kiddo. I mean nothing to you. I'M the enemy here! Why have you been...so nice to me?" Snatcher was utterly perplexed.

"You're not my enemy. You're just a little misguided, that's all." I told him, shivering.

"Alright now get off me before you die of hypothermia." Snatcher grumbled.

I put on a pretty smug expression (if I do say so myself) and stared at him.

"But if you were my enemy, wouldn't you want that?" I giggled.

"Well keep going then kiddo! It'd make my afterlife a whole lot more pleasant!" Snatcher chuckled himself.

"Why? Because I'd joining you and we could do some fun ghost stuff together?" I suggested.

"...be quiet and help me hang up this drawing." Snatcher got up, picture in hand, avoiding the question.

After I got some tape out, The Snatcher took it from me and hung my picture higher than all the rest.

"You know I can tell you captured my good side kid. At least you aren't a terrible artist." Snatcher laughed to himself, as he usually does.

"Was that a compliment? From the 'evil bad guy?' Hm?" I looked up at him, excited.

"Don't push it." Snatcher groaned, crossing his arms.

I then began thinking of what to do next, since I didn't really feel like drawing again. My eyes glanced over to the toy chest. I quickly searched around in it, finding a pon (why does that always happen?) and pulling out my Owl and Mafia dolls, my favourites.

"Wanna play with me?" I offered.

"This is definitely pushing it." Snatcher complained, but I ignored him.

I looked around for something I thought he'd like (I'm not really an expert on ghost toys), before I found a yellow stuffed bear, with a heart on it. So, I tossed it to Snatcher, who swatted it away and onto the floor.

"I'm not playing with you kid. Now, let me get back t-," he stopped, frozen. Where he then took a closer look at the bear and picked it up, somewhat in awe.

"What's up?" I asked, confused.

"This is...this...I remember buying a bear like this...for my child." Snatcher, for the first time ever, seemed at a loss for words. I had a similar reaction at this statement.

"Y-you have...a child?" I barley got out.

Snatcher sat down in his usual spot again, staring intently at the bear.

"No kiddo. But, I wanted one. Even at that age, I thought I'd make a good parent. I made a room for a kid. Filled it with toys, a train set, a crib, everything. I was so excited, even if I thought at the time it wouldn't happen for another ten years or so...turns out that it's just never happening." Snatcher seemed uncharacteristicly...sad?

This...was new. I walked up to him, sitting next to the guy. But he didn't seem to mind, which was...strange for him.

"I had everything going for me. I was smart, I was good looking, I had money, I had...Vanessa." Snatcher bitterly said that name.

"Do you want me to put the bear back?" I offered, holding out a hand.

"No kiddo, I just...wanna reflect on some stuff for a minute. Anyway...man...Subcon used to be great. It had everything going for it too! And it even had a prince and princess ruling over it...Then..." Snatcher squeezed the bear.

I saw something in his eyes then. Even if it was brief, even if was just a drop in the ocean of negativity that he was, for the splitest of seconds I saw...some humanity. Some form of...compassion. Something in there.

"Then what?" I questioned, sympathetically.

"Then...she...actually, I don't want to talk about it." Snatcher shook his head and looked in the window, trying to see his reflection.

But there was nothing to reflect. The bear in his hand just floated in the window, as he stared out into space, completely invisible.

"Why not? You can tell m-," suddenly, he jumped towards me.

"I DON'T HAVE TO TELL YOU! YOU WON'T CARE! NOBODY CARES ABOUT SOMEONE AS COLD ME! AND WHY SHOULD THEY? SO SHUT UP AND STOP ASKING QUESTIONS ALREADY!" Snatcher roared in my face, surprising me, knocking me off the edge of the fort and into the pillows.

"Ah!" I let out a yelp.

Once I swam to the top of the pillows, I saw Snatcher's expression had returned to normal. He just had a little more excitement in him this time.

"Woah. I actually scared you! Man! That feels great! Take it from someone who can't feel a thing! I'm feeling better already!" The Snatcher let out a giddy laugh as he picked up his book and smiled at me.

"C'mon kiddo! You finished every contract, even without dying, but at least do a couple again! It's gonna be fun!...for me. AHAHAHAHAHAA!" The Snatcher encouraged.

"Well...as long as it makes you happy." I answered, climbing out of the fort.

After around fifteen contracts and a good night's sleep, I woke up from my slumber with a yawn. Where I then proceeded to get out of be-wait a minute...where's Snatcher? He never misses the chance to wake me up earlier than normal so I can get hurt!...maybe that's not a great thing to expect, but we'll work on that. Still, he was nowhere to be seen in my room.

I got dressed (I put my hat on) and quickly and ran into the main room, where I found him speaking with Cooking Cat.

"I already told you, I will not cook a soul! Pretty sure not even alien microwaves have a setting for that!" Cooking Cat objected.

"You don't need a microwave! Just use the stove!" Snatcher objected to Cooking Cat's objection.

"No! Just have a normal breakfast!" Cooking Cat walked away in a huff.

"Wouldn't that be nice..." Snatcher mumbled to himself.

Snatcher then turned around and saw me, looking quite surprised.

"Wait, you're up already? Can't believe I missed waking you up today. Don't worry kiddo, I'LL BE SURE TO MAKE UP FOR IT TOMORROW! AHAHAHAHAHAA!" Snatcher laughed to himself.

"Woohoo. Eh, still. Glad you're ok. I thought something bad happened to you or something." I told him, happily.

"Kid you worry too much. Live life on the edge! It makes it easier to push you off!" Before he could begin laughing again, I went into the kitchen and grabbed some cerial.

After eating it, I made sure to go back to Mafia Town as quickly as possible. I had to explain to Mustache girl the dangers of what she wanted to do. Sure she had good intentions now, but that doesn't mean they weren't just as exstreme as before. Giving everyone on the planet that much power is crazy, and I'm not letting time itself get destroyed because of it...my head hurts just thinking about it.

I went a little lower into the planet's atmosphere this time, so I could get out quickly. I just wanted her to change Mafia Town back to normal and give me the Time Peice. In and out. Easy peasy.

"Hat Kid! You're back! Sleep well? Thought about everything?" Mustache girl asked me, giddy.

She sat on her throne, on the stage the Mafia boss had fought me in.

"Hi there. Um, listen. You want what's best for everyone right?" I asked her.

"Yeah? Where are you going with this? Are we making good guys out of bad guys or what?" Mustache girl asked impatiently.

"Replace all this lava with water again. Then I'll tell you." I persuasively told her.

"But it's Mafia Town! Not like anyone important is affected!" She defended herself, as I gave her a dirty look.

"...alright fine." Mustache girl tossed another Time Peice onto the ground, smashing it.

That hurt a little. Just seeing a really powerful relic just destroyed with such little care like that. Still, it was for a good cause. I checked the window, seeing that the lava was indeed all gone and replaced with water.

"There. Now, are you going to give everyone on the planet the Time Peices? So we can change it for the better?" Mustache girl was quite literally on the edge of her seat.

"Sorry but...I-...can't. I need them to get home, and giving people that much power is-," she stopped me.

"No no no no, I get it." She held out a hand, dismissively.

"You...do?" I wasn't so sure of this.

"I completely get it...I was right. You are rotten and selfish. But that doesn't matter. Because I know just how to help everyone on this planet!" Mustache girl then grabbed another Time Peice and smashed it on the ground.

I tried to stop her, but I was too slow. Once it shattered, the room became completely pitch black. I couldn't tell where any walls were, where the door was and most importantly, where Mustache girl was. After stumbling around in the dark for a while, I bumped into something.

"Hey! Who did that? And who turned out the lights? We aren't even at the creepy scene yet!" An express Owl complained.

"Sorry!" I told him, unable to see him.

Very quickly, the room filled with voices. Yet I couldn't see anyone. What was going on? Then, I saw a familiar face in the shadows. The Snatcher.

Well, it wasn't just him. He was surrounded by his minions, who all had glowing faces. I guess that's one perk to being dead...Even if the rest of it sucks.

"Hey kiddo! What's going on? Did everyone die?" Snatcher asked, jumping to the expected conclusion from him.

"No Snatcher, we aren't all dead. The lights are just off in here." I told him.

"Ok...where are we?" He asked once again.

"I think in Mafia Town? We could've all been teleported somewhere, but I doubt it." I responded.

Before he could say anything, I heard a voice louder than all the rest enter the room.

"WATCH WHERE YER' GOING! HEY! OUT OF THE WAY, GRANDPARENT COMING THROUGH! RESPECT YER ELDERS AND ALL THAT!" I heard The Conductor shout as he presumably pushed past people.

I tried walking over to him, but I kept bumping into goats who pushed me back towards The Snatcher.

"Kid, do you have any hats that emit light or something?" He asked, curiously.

"Good thinking!" I gave him a thumbs up in thanks, illuminated by his face.

Unfortnatley, I did not have any light emitting hats. And fumbling through them in the dark didn't help either.

"Buuuurrrrnnnnn! Buuuuurrrrrnnnnnn!" I heard wailing coming from the other side of the room.

Fire spirits! Of course they have light! They danced around a fire, chanting their usual chant. I squeezed past people to try and get to them, seeing others sitting by the fire. I couldn't quite make out who though. Nevertheless, I made it there, sitting next to some lady, judging from the silhouette.

"How's the fire child? Warm enough for you?" The woman asked...I swear that voice sounded familiar.

"It's great yeah! Are you warm enough? See anyone you know?" I asked, feeling strangely uneasy.

"Oh believe me I do. Although it's kind of hard to believe..." They responded, ominously.

"What's hard to believe?" I asked, moving away from the fire a little. Feeling intimidated.

The woman then put her face near the fire, just so I would be able to see clearly who it was. Her whiskers almost touching the edges of it.

"Hard to believe you'd walk right into my claws!" They shouted, grabbing me.

Empress held me up above her head, readying her other clawed hand.

"You know child, I didn't I'd ever see you again. Much less for a third time. You destroy my arrangement with the chief, come back while police cats are investigating my shop and now...I've got you right where I want you." Empress snarled at me, clearly enjoying this.

Yet I then heard screaming from behind her. Running. Panicing and running. Everyone running in the opposite direction. But from what? Even the fire spirits began to dance in the other direction, slowly backing away. I looked past Empress, before she turned my head back to look at her, grabbing it.

"You stare at ME child! I don't care what they're all doing, you are going to d-," she was cut off by what I can assume was someone tugging on her coat.

"B-b-b-boss? You need to g-get out of here!" A cat's voice said from below.

She turned towards him, clearly agitated.

"No! She's mine now, I can't wait any l-," Empress then saw what everyone was running from once she had a frozen statue sent flying her way, hitting her square in the face.

The impact sent me out of her grasp and flying through the air, landing on top of a goat, who didn't mind carrying another passenger on his back. As I could faintly make out some Crows, also sitting on him. I then got a good look at the pair of red, glowing eyes that were heading for Empress. Honestly, she proabbly deserved this.

However, then the lights came back on. Revealing we were still inside Mustache girl HQ.

"What is this?! I pluck you all from from every corner of the planet, even the moon! And you start fighting? Unacceptable!" Mustache girl ridiculed.

She sat in her throne on stage, before breaking another Time Peice and making Queen Vanessa vanish.

"Now, anyone else want to start killing each other? No? Good. Now, I'm sure you all have ques-," This time, Mustache girl was interrupted.

"Yeah! We do! Like why is this peckneck talking to us all again after how she wanted us all dead last time?!" The Conductor shouted, from the right of the room.

"I agree! What is child doing here again? And why has she STILL NOT GIVEN ME HER BODY! I deserve it more than her!" The Mafia boss shouted, from the left.

"Listen people! Look. I know none of you like me, but I don't need you to! All I ask of you is that you listen to me for a seco-," Mustache girl then rose from the floor, Snatcher grabbing her by the hood.

"No. You listen to ME! There is nothing you can say that will make me not want to eat that delicious soul of yours! So humour me. What will be your final words before I pull the trigger?" Snatcher taunted her, as I watched from the back of the room with everyone else.

"Listen! I can give you literally anything you people want!" Mustache girl pleaded, reaching for a Time Peice on the floor.

"Oh yeah? And how's that gonna happen? Go on, I'd love to hear it." Snatcher once again taunted, dropping her on the ground.

"I can give you all...Time Peices!" Mustache girl shouted, holding one in the air.

Then, the whole room went quiet. Everyone was in awe, listening intently. Snatcher even went back to his minions, to give her room to explain.

"As you all know, these Time Peices give people the power to rewind time. To right any wrongs they've done, to make their lives perfect. Listen. I once thought all of you were bad guys, but you're all just...misguided! If something bad hadn't happened to you, you wouldn't be bad today! So I'm giving you the chance to become the good guy by righting that wrong! Fixing that problem and making you all become better people!" Mustache girl announced grandiousley.

"Mafia has question." A Mafia member said, raisng his hand.

"Go oooonnnnnn." Mustache girl rolled her eyes when she heard it was the Mafia.

"Where can we get these Time Peices?" He answered.

"From her!" Mustache girl pointed at me, making everyone turn their heads.

"Look at this!" She then threw her last Time Peice, making a glass ceiling appear, showing my spaceship floating above Mafia Town.

"THAT is where they are! Hat Kid's ship has hundreds, no, maybe even thousands of them! She keeps them in a vault, then once you open it, all of you can become much better people!" She explained.

I began sweating as everyone glared at me.

"Or...I could make a killing off of some heists that...didn't exactly go to plan." Empress said aloud, likely so all her cats could hear.

"I could get my body back and make Mafia Town an empire!" The Mafia boss triumphantly exclaimed.

"We, normal law abiding citizens, could use them to cause crimes which we would then solve! We could become rich! Not that, we are, considering that...of course." Some Crows happily discussed.

"The boss could win all those awards he rightfully deserved!" A Moon Penguin said to another, ecstatic.

"Woah woah woah! Everyone! I'm giving you this opportunity to change! Become better people! Those are all selfish things, not selfless things! You need to go get them and use them for good!" Mustache girl pleaded, but to no avail.

Everyone was dead set on stealing my Time Peices, as I heard them all talk about what they would do with the power they could provide. Well, at least Mustache girl locked the door while all the lights were off, since it was shut now. So at least no one is going to get ou-

"The exit is this way!" A Nomad shouted to everyone as a Goat punched a whole in the wall, sending everyone out into Mafia Town, all sprinting out of there as fast as they could.

I looked at Mustache girl, who was completely clueless as to how this happened.

"B-but, they aren't bad guys! Right? How is this possible?" She paced around the room, frantically searching for an answer.

I tried to get to her, pushing through hordes of people leaving for my ship to somehow get up there and steal everything I've worked so hard to get.

Once I finally reached her, I climbed onto the stage and shouted,

"Fix this! You need to break another Time Peice before they break them all! Just rewind time to yesterday and we forget any of this ever happened!" I pleaded her.

"Great thinking! Now...uh oh." Mustache girl's heart visibly sank.

"W-what's wrong?" I asked, knowing the answer.

"I'm...out of Time Peices." She replied.

So now, it was up to me to stop this anarchy before it's too late...becasue if everyone breaks all those Time Peices there's no telling what could happen.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 3 will be releasing either today or tomorrow, with Chapter 4 coming on Sunday! In the meantime, I hope you enjoyed this one!


	3. You are the Bad Guy

Before putting on my sprint hat I took a deep breath. I needed to get back to my ship as quickly as I could, to stop nearly everyone on the planet from stealing my Time Peices, but I just needed a moment of peace first...alright moment over.

Sprinting towards the hole in the wall at least five times the size of me, I tried to escape into the rest of Mafia Town. That is, until a Crow appeared from behind the wall. Bumping into me and bouncing me back.

"Greetings, criminal. Tell me. If you had a hypothetical vault, filled with hypothetical Time Peices on a hypothetical space ship, what would the code for that vault be?....hypotheticaly of course." The Crow asked suspiciously.

I knew what he was doing, so I just pushed past him. Only to have another Crow jump out from behind the wall.

"Why hello there, criminal. We C.A.W agents would like to place you under arrest." The Crow told me, much to my surprise.

"Under arrest? For what?!" I shouted, confused.

"For stealing those Time Peices! There is no way a child of your age should have your hands on such powerful relics! This is, the only, logical conclusion. Now please, would you be so kind as to guide us to this vault of yours so we can take these Time Peices?...for evidence, of course." The Crow told me.

"What? No!" I rejected his 'offer' pushing right past him.

Another Crow was about to jump out and stop me, but I was ready this time. Using my Time Stop hat to walk around him, out onto the wider floating island Mustache girl's HQ sat on.

Mafia Town was below, and it was unrecognizable. Buildings were on fire, alarms rang throughout the town, Express Owls were frantically running throughout the streets, Nyakuza and Alpine Skyline cats were looting all the stores in the Town! It was Chaos!

Still, I needed a way back to my ship, so I'd deal with all this later. I looked around some more, seeing...a tower of Moon Penguins all stacked on top of each other, acting as a sort of ladder? Not my first idea on how I'd get up to my ship. But it seemed like it was working...which was pretty bad news for me. So, I needed to climb it, get back to my ship, then fly it back into space.

Wasting no time, I jumped off the HQ island and into a stream of water below to break my fall, intending to get out and run over to my ship.

"You!" I heard Empress shout from behind me, holding her rocket launcher, standing ontop of a roof.

I turned to see her, beginning to sweat nervously.

"H-hey Empress...No hard feelings?" I asked, with a toothy smile.

But when the rocket came flying towards me, I knew I had to run. And that I did. Dodging it, and taking cover in an alley way.

"You aren't getting away from me that easily child!" Empress shouted angrily, running on the roofs of buildings and firing another rocket.

I rolled out of the way, as the rocket crashed into a dumpster. Still running, it seems I met a dead end...sort of? There were a wall of cats all waiting there, but they weren't looking at me. They were all busy fighting the Mafia.

"This is Nyakuza land now!" One cat shouted at the Mafia.

"No! Mafia Town is Mafia's property! Get lost!" The Mafia member retorted, swinging a fist.

"All of you! Stop fighting them and catch the child! Now!" Empress ordered from another roof top.

The cats all turned to me, pouncing. I avoided them, but there were too many to fight back against. I had to think fast, so I tried wall jumping up to get to a roof, but a cat grabbed my leg before I could get up higher.

"The boss is gonna make a millionaire! Now get over here kid!" The cat triumphantly said as it pulled me down.

But the cat did not become a millionaire that day (whatever that is), instead, it was punched and exploded into pons. Thanks to a Mafia, who appeared to have taken out the other distracted cats as well.

"Ha! Coward! You run from fight, Mafia punish you!" The Mafia boasted, before looking at me. "Wait. Boss said Mafia must catch Hat Kid. Mafia is sorry child. It is just buisness." The Mafia then pulled me down onto the alley floor, my legs being almost crushed by the strength of his grip on them.

"Hey! Stop it!" I shouted, frustrated as I got him off, smacking him with my umbrella.

But as I regained my footing, I saw more Mafia all around me. They jumped and punched, but were no match for my umbrella. I swung it at them as they all attempted to capture me. Soon enough, they were all nocked onto the floor. I stood above them all, catching my breath when another rocket nocked me off my feet, yet again. Where Empress then jumped down into the alley, growling at me.

"I hope you didn't forget about me child. Now stand still and let me kill you!" Empress bared her fangs and shot another rocket.

I ran further down the alley, going through twists and turns to avoid it. The missile eventually ran into a house, creating a hole in it. I think I must've lost Empress at some point, as I found myself in the main square, with nobody following me...unfortunately, there was a gang war in the square.

Cats and Mafia clearly did not get along. They were scratching and punching each other. Fist verses claw. Baseball bat verses fist. Agility verses...Fist. While the Mafia didn't have the most diverse skill set, it was enough to put up a good fight.

I stuck pretty close to the walls, hoping to avoid sight from either party. Hiding behind stalls and the fountain before making it through. It wasn't far from there that I found the 'ladder' of Moon Penguins.

It stretched far up into the sky, going all the way up to my ship. Looking at the Moon Penguin on the bottom, they were sweating and clearly in quite a bit of pain thanks to holding up all their fellow birds, plus anyone else climbing up.

"Sorry!" I told them, as I hesitantly placed my feet on their shoulders and my hands on the shoulders of the Penguin above them. Beginning the long, dangerous climb.

"Wait, isn't this Hat Kid? The boss told us not to let her up here right?" One Penguin asked another as I climbed.

"Yeah, but he's not in her ship yet. And he needs a way to get down! So we can't really stop her." Another Moon Penguin replied.

I let out a disappointed sigh at this. DJ Grooves was after my Time Peices too? He helped me stop The Conductor from taking one after the award ceremony! And...he was so nice to me. How could he do this? Ever since I've been stuck near this planet, he's one of the people I've visited the most! I even acted in a couple new movies for him too! He's...a good person. Penguin. Whatever. He ju-

Something hit my head. It wasn't very hard but I knew I ran into something...or someone! Looking up, excited to see my Penguin pal, I instead saw...a seal? He seemed to notice me too, due to me bumping into his flipper.

"Oh hewwo miss! Sowwy if I hurt your hwead! I didn't mean to give yow an ouchie!" The seal told me, concerned. His adorable way of speaking making me laugh a little.

"No it's fine! Wait...why are you climbing up here?" I questioned, ascending to cling onto the same penguin as the seal, making the tower sway a little.

"The Captwain needs a few of thowse Twime things miss! Is it ok if he bowows wone?" The seal cheerfully responded, much to my confusion.

Why would he need a Time Peice? Does he even have any use for them?

"Why?" I asked again.

"I'm not weally sure miss! I thwink he swaid something about going bwack to see a fwend or somethwing. I wasn't weally wistening, I just followed evwyone else!" The seal told me.

Looking up, I found more seals, all climbing the tower of Moon Penguins with their tiny, adorable little hands. Still, they were after my Time Peices. So I had to do something about them.

"Hey everyone! The Captain needs you back down in Mafia Town!" I shouted up at all the seals.

"Oh? Wets go thwen!" One seal shouted back.

Now, seals not being the most...intelligent, all just let go of the Moon Penguins. Seals began all falling down, back towards the ground. I turned around, seeing the seals all rain down onto Mafia Town. Likely adding to the chaos down there. It was also then I realised how high up I was.

"*urp* Gotta equip that Hover badge now, ugh, this is why I never look down when platforming." I complained to myself.

I hung onto a Moon Penguin with one hand, and pulled out the Hover badge from my pocket, making me feel less sick after sticking it on my hat. Then, I pulled my head back to look at my ship again, seeing a clear path there now.

Finally, after hours of climbing up the Penguins, arms aching, I finally made it to the end of the ladder. And it ended at the glass door in my window, which was open, with the wooden boards blocking it broken! Meaning someone was in there! And space couldn't even suck the air out of my ship to keep them out, since I parked it in this planet's atmosphere, meaning air was still in there.

I placed my hands on the bottom of the glass and began pulling myself up, when a sharp pain entered my hand, making me pull it back. Leaving just one hanging onto the window, as the other one was throbbing! It's ok though, I'm a big kid. Not like I'm gonna cry or anything...even if it hurts. I turned my head towards the window, to see what caused the pain...only to find DJ Grooves standing there, quite pleased with himself.

"Why hello darling! You are exactly the person I did not want to see! Still, I'm glad to HANG OUT with you!" DJ Grooves boasted.

"Grooves? Why did you do that?" I asked, trying to ignore the pain in my other hand, one DJ Grooves proabbly stood on.

"Why, haven't you already figured it out darling? I need to reclaim those Anual Bird Movie awards from The Conductor! He's won, SO many times! You know he's the type of person to cheat someone like me out of an award they rightfully deserve! I just need one Time Peice darling. I want a few, maybe to fix a couple mistakes I've made in the past, but I only NEED one! So tell you what, you let me have a couple Time Peices, and I'll help you back up! What do you say?" DJ Grooves offered, extending a hand.

"Sorry Grooves. I need them. I-," but he didn't let me finish.

"Well, if you won't let me have one darling, looks like I'm just going to have to take all of them!" DJ Grooves shouted at me, stamping his foot on my other hand.

The pain and shock made me let go of the glass, falling down to Mafia Town below. Thinking fast, I grabbed my Hookshot badge and placed it on my hat, then launching the Hookshot at the window, latching onto it. Much to DJ Grooves' frustration.

"My my! You don't give up easily do you?" Grooves taunted.

"I thought you'd have know that by now." I replied.

"You're right. But that doesn't mean I'm not going to take your Time Pe-," DJ Grooves then began wobbling on the ledge.

Something made him topple over the edge, making him fall down to the planet below. As he shouted in terror, making the Moon Penguins on the ladder panic.

"Boss! We're coming!" A Moon Penguin shouted, before the ladder collapsed, as they all jumped down after DJ Grooves.

Luckily, I was hanging onto my ship with the Hookshot, but my grip was slipping, even after reeling it in. I began sweating. My hands were still hurting too much to pull myself up. It was getting pretty hard to breathe up here too, since the air was so thin. But before I let go, I felt someone grab my arm. Looking up I saw a yellow, feathered face. The Conductor!

"Up ya go lassy!" The Conductor told me, pulling me into my ship by the arm.

I landed next to him, on my feet, brushing myself off before looking to the bird(?) at my right.

"You saved me!" I happily told him, giving him a nice warm hug...a hug that made The Conductor jerk away a little, but a hug none the less.

Yeah, he values personal space and blah blah blah. I've heard that talk all before, but he saved me! I feel like I could make an exception.

"Yeah, I did lassy. We aren't letting that peckneck get the best of ya are we?" The Conductor told me, beginning to move away from my grasp.

"You're right! He was acting like such a peck!" I responded, giggling (why is that word so funny?).

But then I stopped laughing, and realised something.

"Hey Conductor?...how DID you get up here?" I curiously asked him.

The Conductor looked the other way, before looking back at me.

"Why lass! I saw DJ Grooves' Moon Penguin possey and knew I had to spring into action! So, I uh climbed up here faster than him and waited for the perfect moment to strike!" He explained.

"Well, I'm glad you're here Conductor!" I told him, satisfied with this response.

I then ran over to my seat in front of the window. Pressing buttons in order to begin flying away, until The Conductor spoke again.

"Hey lass? Could you, er, do me a wee favour?" He asked, a little desperately.

"What is it?" I asked, already fearing the response.

"Since I, pretty much saved yer life, could you, oh I don't know...lend me one of them fancy Time Peice thingamajigs?" He asked, very desperately.

"Oh boy. No. I can't. And you know why, it's too dangerous!" I explained, fearing his reaction as I noticed him place an arm behind him.

"Well. I guess if ya ain't willing to help yer good 'ol Conductor after he just saved yer life. It looks like I'm going to have to take those Time Peices off yer COLD DEAD HANDS!" The Conductor shouted, pulling out a knife from behind him.

The Conductor jumped towards me, but I swiftly dived out of my chair, rolling on the floor to avoid him. The Conductor had just stabbed my chair, getting the knife stuck. He didn't try and take it from the chair though, instead he pulled out another. Throwing it my way.

I avoided it in a similar fashion as the first. As he got the second knife stuck in the wall, like the first. After he noticed his knife missed, I swung my umbrella at him hesitantly before he could pull out another. I didn't want to hurt him. He was my friend too! It's the Time Peices! Sometimes I just wish they would all disappear so nobody would have to fight over them. But, here we are. 

The Conductor slammed into my window after I knocked him back, cracking it. This time he just pounced at me, but that's nothing a Time Stop Hat can't avoid! Which allowed me to get a couple hits in. He then jumped away, pulling out some dynamite sticks from his pockets! Throwing them at me!

"I've got a couple new tricks up me sleeve lassie! And these ain't just props!" The Conductor shouted over the sound of explosions.

Using my Sprint Hat, I dodged and weaved around the red exploding sticks, as they blew up my carpet, walls and even my train set! Still using the Sprint Hat, I charged at him! Sending him flying towards my glass door in my window, yet not sending him out of it.

"I BET YOU 'SAW' THIS COMING PECKNECK!" He shouted louder this time, throwing saw blades on the ground as he regained his balance.

Nothing I hadn't dealt with before though, as I quickly ran around the blades before landing one good hit with a potion from my Brewing Hat! Sending him flying out the window!

"HOW COULD YA DO THIS TO ME AGAIN LLLLAASSSIIIEEEE!" He shouted, throwing one last knife as he fell down towards the planet.

It stabbed into my back wall, making even more of a mess of the place! But there was no time to clean up now, I needed to get my ship out of there! And fast! Before another wacko comes in and tries to steal from me! Placing my hands on the stirring wheel I-

"Wait up. Kid." The Snatcher's voice ordered. I immediately knew it was him too, due to how much time I wanted to spend with him these past few months.

I slowly turned around on my chair. Trying to remain calm.

"Hey Snatcher. Say, do think we could do some contracts later buddy? I'm kind of in the middle of something here." I told him, basically praying he wouldn't be trying to kill me too...well, more than usual anyway.

"No kiddo, I'm not in the mood for contracts now. I think I'd just like a nice, calm chat." The Snatcher menacingly said, with that usual smile of his.

"Wait, really? Why? About what? Is it serious?" I began firing questions at him, confused at this...un-Snatcher like behaviour.

"You know, I just wanted to say that...I don't get you." The Snatcher told me, making me lower my guard a little.

Wait...he wasn't about to ask me about my Time Peices?

"What do you mean?" I questioned, intrigued.

"I've have done nothing but torment you, try and murder you and annoy you. So tell me. Why do like having me around?" Snatcher questioned himself.

"Well, I think that you aren't all bad buddy! There's someone in there. Someone nice, kind and honest. I've just been trying to help you find that person." I got up from my chair, placing a hand on where his heart would be on his frigid, sharp feeling body.

"Wow. I can't believe it." Snatcher's grin winded.

"Believe what?" I spoke, raising an eyebrow.

"I can't believe you'd be so foolish. AHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAAA!" He laughed.

Suddenly, I was teleported outside of my ship. With Snatcher holding me above the planet. He could drop me at any moment!

"S-snatcher! Put me back! This isn't funny!" I told him, beginning to feel scared.

"Oh it's not meant to be kiddo. You believe I'm a good person inside? Inside where?! I'm dead kid! I'm broken! You can't fix me! If I ever was a good person, which I wasn't, THAT PERSON IS LONG GONE NOW! AND THEY AREN'T EVER COMING BACK!" Snatcher then let out another laugh again.

I'd heard him say stuff like this before, but he's never dangled me thousands of feet in the air!

"Ok! I get it! Now put me back!" I told him.

"Oh not yet kiddo. I'm not finished yet. You know I created all those Death Wishes for you? You know, stuff I designed to be so dangerous, so diabolical and so insanely difficult that you would be so overwhelmed you would just give up and LET ME KILL YOU? Yeah. You didn't die. You beat them all. Not only that, but I've been...compelled? Is that the right word? Whatever. Point is, I haven't left your ship for months, even AFTER you beat all my challenges! And I have no idea why. That is until today! Because that little red girl gave me the perfect idea...as to how I can torment you. And finally, break you." Snatcher leaned down to me when he said this, deepening his voice. Yet still smiling.

He then jerked me towards my ship's window, giving me a full view of my main room, all torn to peices thanks to The Conductor.

Snatcher snapped his two fingers, then suddenly, in a cloud of purple smoke, everyone in Mafia Town was now on my ship! The Mafia, the Express Owls and Moon Penguins, The Crows, Snatcher minions, The Dwellers, Goats, Cats, everyone! All on my ship...standing in front of my vault of Time Peices. I wanted to cry. But I didn't. Big kids don't cry.

"Snatcher! Put them all back! Please! I thought we were friends!" I begged and pleaded him.

"Not happening! Now, let's watch them all slowly take away everything you've worked so hard for." The Snatcher could barley contain himself.

I struggled. I began flailing my arms and legs around, trying to hit Snatcher with my umbrella, switching hats, anything to make this stop!...but it wouldn't. He wouldn't let go. He wouldn't put them back. He just watched and laughed.

Everyone on my ship was in a daze at first, before realising where they were. Alpine and Nyakuza cats all began running around rooms of my ship, stealing anything they could get their paws on. Whereas everyone else had their attention firmly set on the vault. DJ Grooves and The Conductor got The Moon Penguins and Express Owls to pull at it, yet nothing was budging. So The Mafia boss began shouting something, and the Mafia all pulled and pushed the vault door. Some even tried punching it, but nothing worked. Next, seals all threw themselves at the door...which didn't work. Empress fired rockets at it, meanwhile Snatcher minions threw Dweller filled fruit at the door, not even leaving a scratch. Seemingly frustrated, a couple goats pushed everyone away and began pulling at the vault.

"Oh wow! Oh! Oooooohhhh kid! They look pretty strong! I'm sure they're both about to ruin everything you've worked for up to this point...how delightful!" The Snatcher excitedly exclaimed.

"Snatcher stop! This isn't you! You're better than this! Let me go! I don't want to see this anymore! I don't want to fight you! Please!" I shouted, still flailing around, tears forming in my-no. I'm a big kid. B-big kids d-don't cry.

Snatcher heard this, and pulled me closer to his face, hitting me with a look of confusion.

"This isn't me? What? What do you see in me? Why do you see anything? Kiddo. I'm literally trying to get rid of all those Time Peices of yours...Why do still think that?" He questioned me, genuinely confused.

"I just want to be friends Snatcher! I don't want all of this! P-please. Just put them all back. You don't have to do this. Stop all of this!" I pleaded yet again.

This time I wasn't met with a cackling response. It seemed like he was genuinely thinking about what I had just told him. He stared at me. I just had to get through to him. That's all it would take. It's possible...isn't it?

Yet Snatcher stopped looking at me, when we both heard the sound of metal scrapping against a hard surface. We saw the goats, pulling at the vault as sparks flew off of it. Suddenly, a loud clang was heard. The goats then both pulled the vault door over their heads, and threw it into a wall, braking it down. The vault, was open. I wanted to c-NO! There's got be a way out of this! But...

I saw them all. All of them. Everyone went into that vault. Pushing past each other. It felt like I saw a hundred Time Peices break before I shut my eyes. I couldn't bare to watch anymore. The sound of shatter after shatter after shatter filled my ears. It felt painful thinking about it.

After a few hours, the noise finally ceased. I opened my eyes. Seeing my ship's lights were off and an empty vault.

Snatcher teleported the two of us back inside...the ship was slient. Dead, and silent. Running over to the vault, my eyes begging to be shut again, I stepped on something. Something hard. Something metallic. Roombi.

Roombi was completely shattered. It's circuit board lay in multiple peices, as well as various wires and black and pink parts of it's outer plastic shell. I picked up the peices with a quivering hand, before letting them fall back onto the floor. I felt Snatcher leaning over me. He was probably about to say something, but I didn't care. Not anymore.

After shakily standing back up, I walked over to the vault. Completely barren. Except for one Time Peice. I ran over to it. Grabbing it. Clinging onto it and staring intently at my teary eyed reflection.

"Well, at least they didn't take every Time Peice! There's a plus!" Snatcher smiled, trying to bring the mood up.

As if right on time, an Alpine Skyline cat appeared. No longer hiding in it's invisible state. It snatched the Time Peice from my hands, smashing it immediately, disappearing into a white light.

I was barely able to walk out of that vault, each step feeling as if it no longer had any meaning. I looked out of my large window at Mafia Town. Glowing with bright white light. Big kids don't cry...but that's when I collapsed onto the floor, head in my hands. And I cried.

"C'mon kiddo! Cheer up! This isn't like you! Besides, if you can get them once, you can get 'em back again!" Snatcher told me, attempting to be motivational.

"Oh shut up." I snapped at him, looking up from my arms, tears streaming down my face.

"Well excuse me for trying to help." Snatcher sarcastically rolled his eyes, leaving me enraged.

"Do you have any idea what you've just done? You have just let a bunch of psychos loose across all of time, and now I have no way to stop them!" I explained, furious.

"And?" Snatcher asked, not grasping the weight of the situation.

"And? AND?! Do you know what it's like? Snatcher? Do you know what it's like to have all of time depend on someone like me every day? If I let one Time Peice out of my sight, it could be the end of everything that even exists! Letting forty out is incredibly dangerous! And letting out the hundreds I had in that vault? Snatcher...you have just...doomed everyone who has and will exist..." I began crying into my arms again.

"Kiddo. I had-," I stopped him, shooting my head up from the floor.

"No! You were PERFECTLY aware of this! Yet you did it anyway. Snatcher. I thought we could be friends. I thought I could trust you. I thought you could change. But she was right about you, you know? Those months ago? You are the bad guy, Snatcher. And I really was a fool for thinking you could be any different." I continued sobbing into my arms after that, my sleeves wet with tears.

Snatcher didn't respond to that. He was about to, yet fell oddly...quiet? Not that I was complaining. He had just done more harm than anyone could ever be forgiven for. He made me sick, and it made me more sick thinking I thought at one point he was just misguided.

"Hey uh, boss? We collected fifty three Time Peice, uh things. From that crying kid's vault, like you asked." I overheard a Snatcher minion say.

I buried my head deeper within my arms, not wanting to listen to their conversation.

"Are you sure about this boss? We did j-...ok then." Another minion said, confused sounding.

It seemed like Snatcher said something to them. But what did I care? He betrayed me. He betrayed everyone. He's evil. And no-

I felt a tugging on my arm. As if being told to look up, by a cold, dark hand. I tried swatting it away, but my hand found nothing. Looking up out of curiosity...I saw a pile of...no. Time Peices? But how? Is it possible that...

"S-snatcher?" I called out into the darkness of my ship...but there was no response.


	4. Return to Mafia Town

I walked over to the pile of Time Peices that sat before me. A million thoughts running through my head, with barely any time to catch them. The Time Peices were all stood up neatly in front of me on the floor, mostly in piles of three, so I could reach the higher ones without jumping on them. Why did he leave these here for me? He hated me? Right? That's what Snatcher said...yet, it appears he left them to help me? After he just made such a large effort to take them all from me? It didn't make sense.

"Snatcher?" I called out into my empty, dark space ship, to no response.

I decided to check the kitchen for him, only to be met with doors that wouldn't budge open.

"Of course..." I sighed to myself.

The power was, once again, off. Spying through the kitchen door's windows, it was clear he wasn't there either. I turned around, taking in the wreck my ship had become. The carpet was shredded into peices, thanks to The Conductor and all the cats running around here earlier, my large glass window had multiple larger cracks in it and the vault door had been ripped clean off, braking a hole in the wall it had been flung into...the wall of my room.

Acting quickly, I sprinted over to the hole, seeing the vault door in my pillow fort, pillows being scattered throughout the room as a result. I guess the hole in the wall allowed me access to my room again, even without the door working. Still, that wasn't important right now. I needed to re-gather every Time Peice I had just lost...oh boy...

The next few hours were spent attempting to get some functions of the ship working again, using the power of the fifty two Time Peices I had. Making sure to make space travel somewhat operational again. Unfortunately, that meant sacrificing most other electrical functions in here. Like heat. Believe me, space is definetly not a warm place to be. I was shivering so much I thought I might accidentally drop a Time Peice as I carried them into the vault, connecting wires to them in order to desperately find a way to move the ship before it crash landed onto the planet.

"SPACE EXPLORATION FUNCTIONS ONLINE." A speaker in the corner of the ship robotically said aloud.

"Yes! Finally!" I jumped in relief, wiping sweat from my forehead, holding various cables in the same hand that I had been hooking up to the (mostly) repaired vault.

The door was wooden now, and easily breakable. But I just needed a temporary replacement before I move the door out of my room, since it's too heavy for even me to carry!

With transportation back online, I rushed over to the main controls in the, still dark, space ship. However, I ended up tripping over something. It wasn't one of the many cables I had on the floor though, which I was using to quickly regain functions of the ship, without the convenience of spare parts from the Machine Room.

I landed on the floor, face first. Quickly getting back up to see what I tripped on after straightening my hat. I froze. It was Rumbi, still in peices. I crawled over to it, picking it up once again.

"Don't worry buddy, I'll have you fixed up as soon as I can." I whispered to the peices of it in my hand, giving the top peice a pat.

It couldn't hear me, but I'd like to think it did. Gently placing the peices back on the floor, I walked over to my chair sat in front of the controls.

Looking out of my window, I could clearly see the differences in the planet already. Each part of it was covered in a white light, caused by the Time Peices changing the environment...all except, for Subcon Forest. That made sense, since The Snatcher gave me all the Time Peices his minions stole. I was just about to head to Subcon Forest, excited at the possibility of maybe getting through to Snatcher, since leaving me all the Time Peices he took was certainly a start!...even if he did cause all of this. Still, he was (legally) my BFF, so it's my proud to duty to help him, stop him from being such a meanie and start acting like his old self! Plus, some company here would be nice...

Pressing various buttons, I set a course for Subcon Forest...only to look back at the window, finding that the light around Mafia Town was gone. And unlike Subcon, it had Time Peices in it, so it would be more benifical for me to go there first. I redirected my ship to Mafia Town and began descending into the planet's atmosphere once again, still half looking at Subcon Forest. I know that The Snatcher doesn't always act...the nicest, to put it extremely lightly, but he gave me some Time Peices at my lowest moment! When I lost all faith in him and myself! I've spent months with him, and he's had a rough life... so I just want to make him a better person in death. Is that so wrong?

I shook my head as my ship continued to lower. I'd think about all that once I revisited Subcon Forest, even if I still wanted to think about it now, since it was pretty complicated. Still, I began paying attention to Mafia Town...or I tried to. You see, my window was completely covered in a thick, black smoke. Presumably coming from Mafia Town? I double checked my map of the planet, which showed on the bottom of my controls. I was apparently still above Mafia Town? How much had it changed? Judging from the amount of gas covering my window (I literally couldn't see a thing), it would be pretty dangerous to lower the ship any further and risk it taking in toxic fumes.

So, I needed a way down there, as my eyes drifted towards the glass door in my window. I still had the Hover badge equipped, so I could just jump down from my ship, landing safely on the ground below...trying not to inhale any smoke on the way down. I tried looking around the window some more, seeing if there was any safe way through the smoke, yet I had no success.

Before I was about to literally jump into the unknown, I headed back to my room (I totally wasn't putting off going into that gross gas or anything). Opening my closet and searching around in there, I pulled it out. My baseball bat. If I was trying to get back who knows how many Time Peices from the Mafia, I had to be prepared. Now, I COULD change my outfit...but that wouldn't really help me. Plus I wanted all my fancy Death Wish outfits (plus the not so fancy, yet just as stylish Nyakuza outfits) to stay away from that smoke.

Swallowing some clean air inside the ship, holding my breath, I opened the glass door in the window...And dropped.

I fell. Fell faster than I'd ever fell before. I needed to gather the Time Peices from here, plus every other corner of the planet before anyone does something catastrophic! Seriously! Stuff like time paradoxes are so hard to fix! I could NOT deal with anything of that nature. Or if too many Time Peices are used, it may even cause Time's end again! I shivered at the thought of all this, as I continued to fall through the polluted air, as my arm clutched my umbrella, tight.

After around fifteen minutes of falling through possibly toxic gas, and coughing the whole time, I finally got below the smoke. Mafia Town...wasn't really Mafia Town anymore. The sky was completely grey, coated in the smoke. The building were all close and compact, all being black with ash. And the water surrounding the now larger island was an inky black, as factories pumped oil into it.

I attempted to fall ontop of the Mafia HQ, to little success, as I was falling near the edge of the island, right next to a factory, pumping out more of that smoke. What the heck caused all this? I thought the Mafia liked fish and punching stuff! Not...whatever these factories were making.

I noticed I was getting closer to the ground quickly, so I pulled out my umbrella...and opened it up, letting me float calmly down to the street below.

The streets...were completely gross. They were dirty, and filled with trash, and rats which ate that trash. It was discusting! So, I ran out of this alley like a bullet, trying to find some of the bright colors I was used to! Who could've done this? Was it Mustache girl? Or the Mafia? These ideas kept echoing in my head as I continued down the narrow pathways, not a soul in sight. That's another thing. This place was quiet. The scilence was utterly defeaning, with my foot steps being the only noise around here, besides the occasional squeak of one of the many rats.

Eventually, I reached a fork in the road, so I stopped to take in the strange place more. I couldn't tell if it was day or night, since they sky appeared to block out any stars here, or the moon. Speaking of which, I wonder how DJ Grooves is...oh no. He's proabbly going to be fighting over the Time Peices with The Conductor! Ugh, sometimes I just wish they'd all disappear, since they only ever seem to hurt people...

Suddenly, I heard footsteps. Heavy footsteps. They were rapidly approaching too, so whoever this was must be in a hurry. I hid behind a dumpster (which stank by the way, but no way am I describing that) as I waited for these footsteps to reach me.

They kept getting louder. And louder. And louder. They had to be close. Pulling out my trusty baseball bat, I held it forward, hoping to get some answers out of whoever it found. And it found...

"Huh!? Tiny baby alien!? Tiny baby alien is alive?! Mafia beg of you! Save Mafia! Help!" The Mafia (with an awfully strange fashion sense) pleaded me.

"From...what?" I asked confused, lowering my bat.

I'm guessing Mustache girl caused all this state of Mafia Town then. I mean, she did cause me to lose all my Time Peices, even if it was somewhat indirectly.

"Mafiabots are after Mafia! They are heading this way! You must abduct them in alien space ship to save Mafia! Ahhh!" The Mafia ran off, screaming.

What's a Mafiabot? I wondered, scratching the back of my head. Also my spaceship doesn't do the whole "abduction" thing, that's not a very nice stereotype. So I guess I'd just have to take care of whatever a Mafiabot is the old fashioned way.

I walked in the opposite direction of the Mafia, since he ran off too quickly for me to ask what exactly happened here. So I just decided to go where he wasn't...until I found a Mafiabot.

It looked like any other Mafia, except it was silver and metallic, with glowing read eyes and had treads for feet! Like ones tanks had in a couple old bird movies The Conductor has shown me! It was looking at the ground, scanning the floor with it's red eyes, before it found my feet and stopped.

"KID WITH HAT DETECTED. MUST TAKE TO HQ." The Mafiabot stated.

It rolled towards me, charging fist first, as the treads rolled quickly in my direction. I swiftly dodged it, yet it just as hastily turned it's whole body around, ready for another swing. It charged again, with another clenched robot fist. This time, I decided to counter attack and jump on it!...only to bounce right off? Ok, this thing was sturdier than I thought, but nothing I can't handle. The Mafiabot was in the process of shifting it's body around to face me when I ran up to it! Smacking robot in the face with my baseball bat!

It didn't react. Splinters even flew off the bat!

"Uh oh." I gulped, as it took another swing at me, before I had any chance to move.

It hit me right in the face, knocking me into a house nearby. It hurt. A lot. I got back up though, rubbing my back that hit the solid brick. But before I could attack it again, the Mafiabot was already charging at me! Thinking fast, I used my Time Stop Hat and moved out of the way, causing it's hand to get stuck in the wall.

Now's my chance! But how do I attack it? I thought about this as I slowed down time, before settling on using my Brewing Hat. I nervously threw a potion, unsure what would happen. Yet once it made contact with the machine's arm, it was nocked clean off! Yes! Unfortnatley, while I was celebrating, it managed to pry the other arm from the wall, hitting me again, as I flew across the street, landing on the concrete floor this time.

I got up quickly, readying another potion before throwing it, aiming at the robot's chest. And it hit! The Mafiabot exploded upon making contact with the potion, sending parts of it flying! I did it! I punched a fist in the air in celebration and was about to do some peace and tranquillity, when an alarm errupted throughout the town.

"KID WITH HAT SPOTTED! ALL MAFIABOTS TO STREET G1 IMMEDIATLEY! BRING CHILD TO HQ!" An alarm blared, with a robotic voice.

That can't be good. Beating that bot proabbly triggered something. Hastily, I wall jumped up onto the roofs of the houses here, which was pretty easy to do thanks to the narrow streets. On the path below, I saw numerous Mafiabots all gathering in the street I had landed in. None of them were looking up at the roof tops, they were all meticulously searching the street.

Now when I said, 'numerous Mafiabots,' I was GREATLY underestimating how many were showing up. They just kept coming! There must have been thousands down there! All squeezed onto this one single pathway, their metal bodies scraping against each other.

As I looked on in awe, when I noticed they found something, as they all attempted to form space in a certain area, as two Mafiabots held the Mafia that had talked to me by the arms, dropping him in the small open area, blocking all exits.

"WHERE IS THE CHILD?" One Mafiabot asked.

"Mafia does not know any children you monsters! The only other living thing Mafia has seen today is alien! They are hero of Mafia Town!" The Mafia, got on his knees as he explained this.

"TAKE THIS ONE TO THE HQ WITH THE GIRL." Another Mafiabot ordered, as the Mafia attempted to run away.

He had...little success in that regard. He tried moving around and above the crowd of robots, yet he had no success, as he was swiftly grabbed. I needed to act quickly. But anything I would do could just get us both captured! Still, I couldn't just sit up here and do nothing. I looked at my surroundings to see if there was anything I might be able to use to save this Mafia...hmmm...

"Hey Mafia freaks!" I shouted at them, waving around my arms, as I stood on a different platform this time.

"Me, tiny alien?" The captured Mafia responded, as all the Mafiabots looked up at me.

"No! Not you! Now grab onto this!" I replied, shooting my Hookshot towards him.

"CAPTURE KID WITH HAT. MUST DO IT." The Mafiabots all said in unison, pointing at me.

Quickly, still holding out an my Hookshot, I jumped down from the handle of the lava faucet I had jumped to, and proceeded to smack it with my baseball bat.

"Oh please work, please work, please work." I muttered to myself as I kept swinging my weapon.

The faucet did not shoot out lava however, but oil. As the black substance coated the streets below, it DID wash away any robots it came in contact with. Which still worked just as well, as thousands of robots were all swept away in a wave of the stuff. Meanwhile, I felt a weight in my other arm. Turning, I saw the Mafia clinging onto my out stretched Hookshot for safety. So, I reeled him in, relived my plan worked.

"Thank you for saving Mafia! How could Mafia ever thank you, tiny baby alien?" He asked hopefully.

"Tell me how to get into that HQ...also I'm not a baby." I replied (Kids aren't babies!).

"Well, Mafia could proabbly punch down door for little alien? Mafia thinks you could get up there by uhhh, using that thing you pulled Mafia up here with? Mafia is pretty sure he saw some hooks near HQ." The Mafia explained, placing a hand on his chin.

"Alright then, let's go!" I told him, running across roof tops as he followed behind me.

I needed to get into that HQ. It was pretty obvious that the Time Peices were all being kept there again, since the Mafiabots all seemed dead set on taking people there. The Mafia ran after me as I jumped and ran across roof top to roof top. He seemed pretty practiced at it. He said that he used to practice doing that often, so he could escape during an alien invasion...or something.

I held onto the Mafia with little trouble, as I carried him up to the HQ while I swung on the hooks. The canon below was gone, being replaced with (what else) but factories built on top of it, and the rest of the land below the HQ.

Once I reached the top, we ran into a couple Mafiabot guards, who I proceeded to take out with my brewing hat in a similar way to the first...as the Mafia screamed and hid in the corner.

Once all that was taken care of, I was able to get a good look at the (third revision of this place? I think?) new Mafia HQ. The front lacked any sort of happy Mafia on the front, instead, the 'Keep out please' sign was upscaled to the size of the building itself. Other than that the building was grey, with prison bars on the few windows. With an iron door stopping anyone from getting in.

The Mafia is pretty strong though, and was able to punch down the door. I asked if he broke his hands (since that looked veeeerrrryyyy painful) but he told me he was fine. Once the door was punched down though, the building inside was dark, with a stone floor. It definelty did not resemble the previous two versions of this place at all, that's for sure.

"This is as far as Mafia go. Mafia does NOT want to step in there! Mafia sure of that!" The Mafia explained.

"Alright. I'll be fine anyway, thanks for everything." I told the man, pulling out my umbrella, ready for a battle.

He then ran up to me, giving me a bear hug.

"Mafia is so grateful for what you have done! You save Mafia! It will be shame when you die in there though. Still, Mafia is grateful to alien!" The Mafia told me, as he let go of me.

"Wait...what's in there?" I readied my baseball bat, knowing that there was proabbly a fight afoot. 

"Errrmmm, Mafia thinks it's better for you to find out yourself. Mafia is scared of what they may do to Mafia." The Mafia admitted, sweating.

"Ok then...bye." And with that, I was off.

The room was completely empty. There was no casino. No throne. No nothing. It was merely, a stone hallway, with the only light coming through the bars on the windows. The only thing apart from stone in there was a wooden door, right across from me. Was it...abandoned? Well, no. The Mafia knows something is in here. But what?

Gulping nervously, I pushed open the creaky wooden door at the end of the hall. It wasn't even locked. Clearly the Mafiabots didn't expect anyone to actually get up here...or out of here.

The second room was completely black. Yet I could immediately tell what it was meant for. Prisoners. Iron bars sat close together, as one lone prisoner lay on the wall, chained to it. Their head faced downwards, the floor below them was looked damp, even I could tell that was the case in the dark. The prisoner had clearly been crying. And that prisoner, was...

"Mustache girl?" I asked, my voice echoing throughout the previous hallway.

Her face flew up, a smile jumped onto her face, something she likely hadn't experienced in quite some time.

"Hat Kid! Y-you're here! I-...I can't believe it! I...I...," Mustache girl stopped abruptly, looking down again, "...You should leave."

This...was unexpected. Why should I leave? This certainly wasn't a trap set up by the Mafiabots, as nothing had happened yet. So then why?

"Why?" I asked, unsure.

"I-...I don't want you to help me." Mustache girl told me, sniffling.

Huh? That was definitely not what I thought she'd say. She continued though.

"The Mafia boss has your Time Peices. He's sailing the oily waters out there with that new body of his. On that ship is where you can find your Time Peices." Mustache girl explained hopelessly.

The Mafia Boss? That...makes a lot of sense in hindsight. Still, I was unsure if should help Mustache girl. She didn't want me to save her for some reason, and she caused my Time Peices to be stolen yet again. But I still had to know what was going on.

"Mustache girl...what happened here?" I asked, confused, placing my hands on the bars, leaning my head forwards.

"The Mafia goons gave the boss all of your Time Peices. He broke a few, and transformed Mafia Town into...well, worse Mafia Town. Now he's replaced the Mafia with a bunch of tin cans, since they get the job done better. Or something. Anyway, one of the Mafia Boss' first things he did with this new body of his was to track me down and lock me up..."

Mustache girl took in a deep breath, on the verge of tears. In a state I had never seen her in before.

"I'm...being executed tomorrow." Mustache girl sniffled, looking down at the floor.

I threw a potion from my Brewing Hat at some prison bars, so I could get closer to the wall Mustache girl was chained to.

"I don't want you to stop that though, Hat Kid. I deserve it...I-...because I'm the b-bad guy." Mustache girl barely got out, facing away from me.

I was...utterly speechless. My mouth hang open, as I just stood there utterly perplexed.

"Why do you say that?" I inquired, trying to get more information out of her.

"Because I've put everyone in danger! I broke into your ship, smashed a bunch of your Time Peices, then what's my big idea to stop bad guys and redeem myself? Oh I know! I'll get every single selfish person on this planet in one room and ask them to change! That's DEFINETLY not gonna blow up in my face! And it's TOTALLY not betraying your trust for the second time!" Mustache girl ranted, before stopping herself.

Her tone then shifted to one of sadness, rather than frustration.

"Hat Kid...I deserve this. Every time I've tried to help I just end up hurting people. People I wish to one day trust. You. I've hurt you...it's about time I get what's coming to me." Mustache girl sighed and looked at me teary eyed, before lowering her head, becoming slient.

She told me everything I needed to know. There was no reason to help her. Mustache girl had told me where to go to get my Time Peices and who caused all this. I had everything I needed...

A loud clang was heard...as I broke the shackles with my baseball bat.

Mustache girl dropped to the floor, looking up at me, a mixture of surprise, sadness and joy on her face. She looked at me in complete awe, as I helped her back up, holding out a hand.

"Mustache girl. Listen. If I'm fighting the Mafia Boss...there's nobody I'd rather do it with than you. You've done a lot of bad, but I'm not exactly perfect either. Nobody is. One thing I like about you, is that you've always done something because you think it's right! So what do you say?...Crime fighting time travellers?" I told Mustache girl.

"Y-you...," Mustache girl grabed my hand as I pulled her up. She stared at me, teary eyed, before hugging me, tightly, "Thank you, Hat Kid...I was wrong about you...very...very wrong..."

We sat there for a few minutes, silently, as Mustache girl stoped herself from crying...or tried to. We finally stopped hugging, placing our hands on each other's shoulders.

"You still didn't answer my question." I tell her, removing my hands as she did the same.

"Crime fighting time travellers!" Mustache girl shouted, giggling as we high fived.

I laugh myself, as I tossed her my baseball bat.

"Here you go. You'll need a weapon if we're going out there." I tell Mustache girl, as she immediately practiced swinging it around.

"What about you?" She asked.

I pulled out my umbrella in response, as she shot me a toothy smile. We walked out of the former HQ together, arms around one another, greeted by the Mafia in the doorway.

"So? Did baby ali-AHHHHH! SPACE ALIEN! RED HOODED GIRL IS STRANGLING YOU! AHHHHHH! MAFIA KNEW THIS WOULD HAPPEN!" The Mafia screamed, averting his eyes.

"Ugh, you brought one of them up here with you?" Mustache girl groaned.

"Yeah, but he's funny. He gets a pass." I explained, giggling.

"AHHHH! MUSTACHED HOOD GIRL SPEAKS TO ALIEN?! AHHHHHH!" The Mafia screamed again, as I walked towards him.

"It's ok. She's cool." I shot Mustache girl a thumbs up, as she smiled after hearing I called her cool.

"Tiny alien has strange taste in people. Proabbly why they talk to Mafia though." The Mafia pondered to himself.

"Do you own a boat?" I asked him.

"Mafia does. What is reason for needing one?" The Mafia curiously questioned me.

"Can we use it to get to the Mafia Boss?" I questioned the Mafia.

"You want to get to boss? That is terrible idea!...Mafia take you to boss. Mafia should choose leaders more carefully next time." The Mafia thought out loud.

"Good. Because if you didn't, the alien would proabbly eat your brains and do uh, alien experiments on you!" Mustache girl giggled to herself, as she stopped me from objecting.

The Mafia screamed, as we both laughed.

A little while later, we made it down to the shore, making sure to stay out of the Mafiabot's sight. Once we make on board the boat, it was very clear that the state the ocean was in...was completely horrendous. It was completely black, with various peices of trash and fish skeletons floating above the water. I had to hold my nose the whole time! The Mafia didn't seem to mind though, and Mustache girl stuck her hand in the water, just because she can.

"So...where is the Mafia Boss?" I asked, confused, seeing no other ships out there, as we sail across the water.

"He is usually northeast of the island by now. It will take a few minutes to get to him. Patience alien." The Mafia explained, steering the small sailboat.

Mustache girl and I sat next to each other, silently, before Mustache girl looked over at me.

"Hey...thanks for what you did back there. I hope we can mix this mess I've made." She spoke, regretfully, yet hopefully.

"Don't mention it. I'm just glad I don't have to fight you again! Haha...ha..." I said, attempting to brighten the mood.

"Your a good kid." Mustache girl told me, going a little red.

"Aren't we the same age?" I laugh to myself.

"I have facial hair. I'm CLEARLY older!" She told me.

"I can drive a spaceship!" I boasted, standing up and smiling, placing my hands on my hips.

"I can...well, you got me there." She stood up and shrugged, as we both laughed again.

A few more minutes passed, and there's no sign of the Mafia Boss' boat, so I continued talking.

"...So is that mustache is fake right?" I questioned her, as the girl beside me turned more red than her clothes are.

"YOU WHAT?! It is not!" Mustache girl folded her arms and looked the other way.

"I'm kidding, I'm kidding." I told her, trying to calm her down...before we both just started giggling again.

"Look! Alien child! Scary child! Mafia sees the boss' ship!" The Mafia looked back from the steering wheel and pointed ahead.

Sure enough, there was a large, boat ahead of us. The S.S none of your buisness, sailing around Mafia Town, presumably to protect the Time Peices.

"What's the plan Hat Kid?" Mustache girl asked, leaning back.

"Hmmmm...I pick you up, Hookshot onto the ship...then beat up some Mafia and get the Time Peices back to my spaceship?" I suggested, as she responded with a smile.

"Sounds good to me! Let's go get them!" Mustache girl excitedly shouted, pointing towards the Mafia Boss' boat.

Once we got close enough to be in range of the Hookshot, I said goodbye to the Mafia, Mustache girl said good riddance to the Mafia, and we flew off onto the enemy boat.

One thing we immediately noticed was that it was filled with ten of those Mafiabots! They all ran at us once we got on board, fits at the ready! I pulled out my brewing hat, throwing a couple potions, sending two Mafiabots flying into the water. Mustache girl saw this, and proceeded to taunt the trio of robots which rushed towards her, only to jump out of the way at the last second, sending them all into the ocean below.

"Your good at this huh?" I shouted to her, as I threw a potion at another robot.

"The Mafia basically have nuts and bolts for brains anyway, so this isn't too different." Mustache girl responded, as we both laughed once again.

"Wait look out!" She told me, shoving me out of the way as a Mafiabot charges in my direction.

We stood back up as the Mafiabot turned around and charged again. Mustache girl tripped it up with the baseball bat I gave her, while I threw another potion. The final three all go for Mustache girl this time, but I used my Time Stop Hat to simply push them in the water before they even notice.

"Woah! What was that?!" Mustache girl asked excitedly.

"My Time Stop Hat. Believe me this thing is the best!...want one when we get back to my ship?" I asked Mustache girl, already knowing the answer.

"Duh! That thing is wicked!" Mustache girl excitedly replied.

"So, we meet again! My two arch nemises!" The Mafia boss shouted, from above us.

I looked up to a higher part of the ship, finding him looking up from a shipping container...still as a jar? 

"What happened that hunk of junk new body you captured me with? Did it get all rusty out here at sea?" Mustache girl taunted from below.

"Silence!" The Mafia Boss shouted, jumping on top of the shipping container, reavling his new body.

It looked like his old body, yet this one was, like the Mafiabots, metal. Chef's uniform and all. All of it was silver, and probably really hard too! I doubted my umbrella would be able to really harm him. His arms had also received some...modifications. They were larger. Well, I should say the left was larger, as the right was replaced with what looked to be a flamethrower! His head though, was still in a jar.

"Kid with the hat. My old body was great. However! It is nothing compared to this new body! Thanks to these Time Peices my, now replaced, Mafia brought to me, I was able to upgrade my body! Now look at me! I am literally a killing machine! And it's time for me...TO KILL YOU!" The Mafia Boss explained, as he jumped off of the large shipping container. Which I noticed, seemed to have a familiar glow peeking through it.

The Mafia Boss landing made the ship sway backwards, nocking me off of my feet, yet Mustache girl kept her cool. She ran towards him, baseball bat at the ready. Yet the Mafia Boss began to spin, as his arms morphed into saw blades! Now that's some fancy tech (maybe I should get my hands on some of it). His saw blade arms hit Mustache girl, causing her to fly into a wall of the ship.

"YOU'RE STILL NO MATCH FOR ME!" He boasted.

I ran towards him this time, yet throwing a potion from my Brewing Hat at his body...it didn't leave a scratch.

"Sorry child, THIS BODY IS INPENITRABLE! I'M INVINSIBLE! HA!" The Mafia Boss bragged, as he span towards me.

His spinning body hit my, making me crash into Mustache girl, sending her back into the corner of the ship.

"Hat Kid! Think of something! You're the smart one here!" Mustache girl pleaded, shoving me off of her.

I wanted to say something like, 'So I'm tough, smug AND smart?' But now really wasn't the time for that. So I got back up, trying to think of a strategy as Mustache girl charged at him again.

"SUPER CHARGED!" The Mafia Boss shouted, as lightning struck his body.

He shot lightning onto the floor, which I jumped over flawlessly. Mustache girl on the other hand, got hit by the last two shots, so I ran in front of her, going for the next attack to protect her. I jumped into the air, equipping my Projectile Badge, and shooting a laser at the Mafia Boss! It knocked him backwards, yet not off his feet. Seemingly just making him angrier.

"I'M GONNA GET THE TWO OF YOU!" He roared at us.

I landed back on the floor, using my hand to steady myself. Mustache girl was also back up, running at him once again, baseball bat in hand. The Mafia Boss transformed his robotic hand into a sawblade once again, slashing at Mustache girl. This time however, she jumped over it, smacking the baseball bat right into his jar head, cracking it, sending him flying across the ship.

He slid across the floor, metal sparks flying as he steadied the eyes in his head once again, before going for another attack.

"MAFIAAAAAAA, BALL!" He shouted, as I was getting some more deja vu.

But instead of standing on top of a larger group of Mafia, his arms transformed into canons, as he shot out Mafiabots, welded together into large steel balls. Six of them heading our way. Mustache girl and I jumped out of the way of the first two, which crashed into the back of the ship. Three more came flying towards me, so I dug my feet into the ground and opened my umbrella, using it as a shield. The Mafiabots pushed me until my back was against the wall, yet I somehow managed to block them all. In the process, I shot another laser, since I still had the badge equipped.

The laser hit the Mafia Boss' head, making his eyes bounce around in the jar, and his liquid boil. The final Mafiabot ball flew towards Mustache girl, however, Mustache girl used her baseball bat...as a baseball bat! Knocking the ball back into the Mafia Boss' glass face!

"Great thinking!" I told her, shooting a thumbs up her way.

"Aw, thanks. I'm kind of an expert at dealing with Ma-," The Mafia Boss cut her off.

"ENOUGH! TIME FOR YOU TWO TO FRY!" The Mafia Boss shouted, transforming his arm into a flamethrower.

He shot at us, streams of fire heading our way as he walked towards us. He aimed for Mustache girl, hitting her immediately and setting her hood on fire. Angry, I jumped on his head, going for a homing attack, which hit! But before I could bounce away, his other hand grabbed me by the leg, holding me upside down, making my hat fall to the ground.

"NOW YOU WILL PERISH!" The Mafia Boss shouted in my face, frustrated.

He began to rev up his flamethrower again. I could already feel sparks hit my hair, when Mustache girl whacked his glass head again, cracking it further, making him let go of me!

"AGH! ENOUGH! NOW IT'S TIME TO GO...ULTRA CHARGED!" The Mafia Boss quickly jumped to the other side of the boat, rocking it as lightning struck him once again.

Getting back up, I got hit by one of the sparks of lightning, trying to pick up my hat, so I focused on dodging the attacks. Meanwhile, Mustache girl was having considerable amounts of trouble as she mis-timed almost every jump, leaving her panting on the floor once the attack was over. Forgetting about my hat, I rushed over to her, picking her up and avoiding his mega charged attack. Mustache girl seemed grateful for this, as I gave her time to recover. Finally, I put her down once that attack finished.

"MEGA FLAME CHARGED!" He shouted at us, completely livid.

He shot a bolt of electricity from his hand at me, hitting me in the chest. I was launched all the way to the other side of the boat! Then, he began shooting fire balls at me, each one landing their mark, since I now lacked the energy to avoid them. I felt...so weak...

The Mafia Boss jumped over to me, transforming his hands into saw blades once again.

"TIME TO CHOP YOU INTO PEICES AND PUT YOU IN A JAR! AHAHAHAHA!" The Mafia Boss gloated, as he swung his arms back, before bringing them forward, about to land the final blow.

I brought my hand in front my of my face to protect myself. I didn't have the energy to avoid them anymore, so braced for impact...yet that impact never came. I slowly looked up at the Mafia Boss, realising time had slowed down, as he was barely moving anymore. But how? Then, Mustache girl, wearing my Time Stop Hat, jumped up onto the Mafia Boss' large body and pulled his jar head clean off! Time began to flow normally again, as the Mafia Boss' body fell to the ground.

"IT CAN'T BE! HOW DID Y-," Mustache girl placed a finger to where his lips would be.

"Do us all a favour. And shut your face." Mustache girl cheekily ordered him.

She took off my hat and threw it back to me, as I placed it back on my head.

"Great thinking back there Mustache girl!" I exclaimed, giving her a hug.

Mustache girl seemed rather flustered at this, but tried not to show it.

"Well I uh you know! I'm always thinkin' on my feet. Now, uh what do we do with this creep?" She asked, placing an arm around me in response.

"Un-hand me this instant!" The Mafia Boss shouted once again, but was met with giggling.

"Nah. How about you tell Hat Kid here where those Time Peices you stole from her are? Hm? Or I'll drop you." Mustache girl devilishly grinned.

"YOU WOULDN'T DARE!" The Mafia Boss shrieked in horror.

"Try me, punk." Mustache girl threatened, as I had to stop myself from laughing.

"Grrrrr...ALRIGHT FINE! They're in the shipping container up there! Now let go of me!" The Mafia Boss told us, looking at where he jumped from before the fight.

"Give him to me Mustache girl." I asked her as she tossed him to me.

"STOP THIS IMMEDIATELY! I HAVE BASIC RIGHTS AS A JAR, TO NOT BE TOSSED AROUND BY CHILDREN!" The Mafia Boss shouted.

"Sorry, you're the ball I'm gonna play catch with from now on as punishment. And I gotta warn you. Snatcher has one heck of a throwing arm." I told the Mafia Boss, who looked sick already.

"Haha! I like the way you think!...wait who's Snatcher?" Mustache girl asked.

"Oh uh...you'll meet him. He's great if you get to know him." I told her, hopeful that I could make that the case.

Then, after tossing the Mafia Boss some more as his punishment, we opened the shipping container, as Time Peices spilled out onto the floor.

"Woah! How many were actually in that vault Hat Kid?" Mustache girl asked, amazed.

"Six, seven hundred? Something like that?" I told her, unsure.

"Woah. That's a lot to retrieve." She admitted.

"Yeah it is...but it's ok. We'll do it together." I told Mustache girl, making her smile.

"Thanks. That...means a lot." Mustache girl honestly replied, overjoyed. And a little embarrassed.

I bent down, and picked up a Time Peice from the pile, holding the Mafia Boss in my other hand.

"It never feels good doing this...but I'll have to do it and bring Mafia Town back to normal, plus bring all these Time Peices back to my ship." I informed Mustache girl.

"By normal do you mean they way it was before this, or before the Mafia got here?" Mustache girl asked, knowing the answer.

I just looked at her in response, confirming her fears.

"Right...well, at least you got the Time Peices back." She told me, disappointed.

"Cheer up! Wanna have a sleepover on my spaceship? We can have a pillow fiiiiiight?" I asked Mustache girl, trying to cheer her up.

"Alright. Now I'm feeling a lot better." We exchanged a final laugh together at this.

Finally, I smashed the Time Peice, returning Mafia Town to normal, and getting back some Time Peices!...ok honestly I was more excited about that sleepover.


	5. Crime Fighting Time Travellers

In a flash of white light, caused by the smashed Time Piece, we were all brought to the centre of my spaceship. With the large pile of Time Pieces appearing behind us, their light illuminating the centre of the ship a little.

"Woah...Feels kind of weird to be back here." Mustache girl informed me, as she looked around in the dark at my ship.

"Is it because the ship is all messy now?" I asked, picking up a peice of carpet, disappointed at the state of the place.

"No. Well, actually that too. I just, didn't think you'd ever actually invite me here, you know?" Mustache girl admitted.

"Yeah. But you're here now, that's what matters." I told her, as I shrugged.

Mustache girl seemed flattered by this, before she began to walk forwards, and turning to look around the main room some more.

"So...why's it so dark in here anyway?" Mustache girl asked curiously.

"The Time Pieces power the ship, and without them in the vault it gets pretty dark in here." I admitted, picking up some Time Pieces after placing the Mafia Boss down (away from the Time Pieces on the floor).

Mustache girl shivered, but tried rubbing her arms to warm up.

"And cold! Seriously this place is freezing!" Mustache girl exclaimed as she attempted to warm herself.

"Believe me you don't know the half of it! Could you help put these back into the vault so we don't freeze up here?" I asked, Time Pieces in hand, gesturing towards the large pile behind me.

As I walked up the slope to my mostly barren vault, I couldn't help but feel...tension. Tension in the air. Tension in the ship. Tension in the general atmosphere. And I didn't get why. We just beat the Mafia Boss! We got back a bunch of Time Pieces! What's there to be tense about?

After placing down the three Time Pieces I carried back into the metal vault, I walked back to the pile, seeing Mustache girl nervously looking at all of the Time Pieces we recovered. She slowly picked one up, before placing it back down instantly, breathing quickly after doing so.

"You feeling alright?" I asked, jumping over the railing and next walking up to Mustache girl.

She looked at me, giving a forced smile, as she stared at me. I noticed some bags under her eyes too.

"Me? Oh yeah, I'm feeling great! You know! I'm pumped and I...I-..." Mustache girl's smile quickly faded as she knelt down and let out a sigh, head in her hands, staring intently at the Time Pieces now.

"What's the matter?" I curiously questioned her, placing a hand on her back as I also knelt down.

She took note of this by looking at me and giving a genuine smile this time, before it also faded upon seeing the Time Pieces again.

"I-...I don't want to pick up the Time Pieces." Mustache girl admitted, now staring at the floor.

"That's ok! I'll just carry them on my own!" I got up with a smile, believing that's all there was to this.

"That's not what I meant Hat Kid." Mustache girl informed me, gazing back at the Time Pieces, her eyes filled with regret.

"Oh...then what did you mean?" I inquired, kneeling back down.

Mustache girl paused. Simply staring off into space, which I thought was very unlike her. I guess being locked up with the threat of execution, plus the plan she worked on for months completely backfiring probably didn't do too much good for her. I was about to speak again, when Mustache girl finally did, after taking a deep breath.

"Hat Kid. I don't...I don't trust myself with them. Everything I've done with them has just made people's lives worse. Your life worse." She admitted, staring at me with her eyes full of doubt. Doubt for herself.

I wasn't too sure how to respond to that honestly. She was...right, sure, but I hadn't thought she would really think about it all too much. Mustache girl always struck me as someone who doesn't really think about stuff too deeply, so this came as a shock to me. I finally decided to respond after looking at her for a little bit, as she stared at the Time Pieces once again.

"Mustache girl. You understand how dangerous they are when given to someone, right?" I asked her.

"Yeah..." She told me.

"Well, that already tells me something." I told her, purposefully being vauge.

"And what's that?" She asked, intrigued, yet still doubtful.

I stood up and handed her a Time Peice with a smile, seeing her eyes widen as a result, as she was completely baffled.

"It's that I'd trust you with them more than anyone else on this planet! Nobody else seems to get that fact after all." I told her honestly, as she got up now too.

"You...you mean that? Even after everything I've done?" Mustache girl's face lit up, as she gazed at me in awe.

"Of course silly! You know better now! You helped me beat that stupid Mafia Boss and haven't tried taking one for yourself or anything!" I told her, as her face almost glowed in response...no that wasn't just because she went a little red. She was happy. And I was happy.

"You know I'm still here! Ugh, why couldn't you just kill me? Rather than force me to sit here and watch you berate me!" The Mafia Boss complained from the other side of the room.

Mustache girl looked like she was about to lash out at the former man, but I held out a hand and stopped her.

"Ignore him. We'll make sure to throw him around later." I told her, still smiling, and calming her down.

"YOU WON'T DARE!" He once again shouted from the back of the room.

"Hey! If you say one more thing I'll...uh, put both of your eyes in sperate jars!" I threatend, turing around to do it.

Now, I wasn't actually about to do that. That's just...ew. And pretty mean, but the threat got the job done as, if he had blood, it proabbly ran cold once I said that judging from his expression. Mustache girl was trying to stop herself from laughing behind me while this was going on.

"Woah, I didn't realise you were evil!...Nice." Mustache girl joked as we shared a laugh.

I finally walked up to her once we stopped, placing a hand on her shoulder.

"Hey. Don't worry about all that stuff. I know you won't just smash all these Time Pieces for your own gain or whatever. The past is the past, you know? Besides, we're crime fighting time travellers! Of course I know you wouldn't do that!" I told her, trying to be motivational.

Mustache girl went a little more red, proabbly from embarrassment, looking down at the Time Piece in her hand, before giving me a smile.

"...Thanks Hat Kid...that means a lot. Honestly, if I could take everything I did back, I would." Mustache girl explained, as I nodded.

"I know. But still, that's what happened. And I forgive you. So forgive yourself for it too. We're a team now. And nothing is going to change that!" I confidently told her, as Mustache girl visibly went a little teary eyed, but quickly attempted to hide it, showing me a bigger smile than before.

So, the next hour was basically just spent putting Time Pieces back into the vault. And Mustache girl made sure to chuck the Mafia Boss into the machine room the second that door was able to open. Speaking of Mustache girl...She didn't break any Time Pieces! No stealing them, or even any hints she wanted to!...if only Snatcher could be more like her... Finally, after lots of work carrying a little over a hundred into the vault, being extremely careful not to break any of the Time Pieces, the lights finally came back on.

"Oh my gosh yes! I didn't want to have to sleep with all the lights off tonight, that would've been too much! Especially after everything that's happened today!" I exclaimed, letting out a sigh of relief as the two of us stood in the centre of the room.

"Wait. Lemme get this straight. You spend your time up here. In space! Fighting the Mafia and who knows what else down there on the planet!...and you're scared of the dark?" Mustache girl asked, clearly baffled.

"Hey! I'm not scared of the dark! I just...don't like it very much." I told her, avoiding her gaze.

"Well! I'll have you know that I sleep in the dark OUTSIDE every night! Even in the rain...and the wind...and when my fire goes out...and when I've had nothing to eat...and...," Mustache girl trailed off, quickly going silent. 

Despite that starting as a brag, I think she realised that's not something to really show off about.

"Well...point is, I'm not scared of the dark. So, why are you?" Mustache girl stated, diverting attention from her previous words.

"I'm not scared of the dark! It's just that, you never know when some ghost with big yellow eyes, a huge evil grin and who's cold to the touch is going to wake you up in the middle of the night to scream in your face!" I explained to her.

"That...sounds oddly specific. Has that happened to you?" Mustache girl curiously asked.

"Uh, nope! Heh, just a nightmare I've had before!" I told her, diverting attention myself now.

"Ghost with yellow eyes...and a grin...where have I seen that before?" Mustache girl pondered to herself, as I quickly tried changing the subject.

"I doubt you've had the same bad dream as me! Or maybe you have? I dunno. Anyway...want to do some fun sleepover stuff now?" I asked, buzzing with the excitement, Mustache girl's train of thought braking as she also began feeling the same way.

"Of course! Let's have this sleepover!" Mustache girl shouted, echoing throughout the ship.

"Yeah!" I also shouted as we punched in the air triumphantly.

There was scilence for a solid minute before Mustache girl spoke again.

"Hey Hat Kid?" She spoke nervously.

"Yeah?" I responded.

"...What do people do at sleepovers?" Mustache girl asked.

"Well they...they!...Hey Mustache girl?" I nervously asked her.

"Yeah?" She responded this time.

"Have you ever had a sleepover before?" I inquired, trying to play it cool.

"Oh yeah! I've had tons! Like when...uh...I uh...I've...never had a sleepover before." Mustache girl eventually admitted, staring at the ground.

"...Neither have I." I confessed, much to her surprise (I doubt Snatcher being in the same room as me counts since, well, he can't sleep).

"What? No way! I bet back on whatever planet you're from you've had loads! I bet you've had one every night with the amount of friends you must have there!" Mustache girl exclaimed in shock.

I gulped, laughing nervously.

"Well, I actually uh, I um-," yet I was thankfully cut off by a loud rumbling sound. It sounded like it shook the whole ship! And it came from...Mustache girl?

"Hey Hat Kid? Do you have anything to eat?" She asked, clutching her chest.

"Oh of course! Cooking Cat makes the best food!" I exclaimed.

So I grabbed her by the hand without any objection, as I lead Mustache girl to the kitchen.

"Hey there Cooking Ca-...huh?" I greeted nobody as I entered the room.

Cooking Cat...was gone? Why? I highly doubted she'd have any interest in taking my Time Peices. What happened to her? Was she captured? But, who would even go catnap Cooking Cat of all people?

"Is someone supposed to be here or is that stove named Cooking Cat for some reason?" Mustache girl questioned me, confused.

"It's not. I was just...nevermind. I'll make us something." I told Mustache girl as we walked over to the refrigerator.

Hm...what do people eat for sleepovers? I opened the refrigerator, pulling out a burger, which made Mustache girl immediately look like she was about to vomit.

"What is that!?" Mustache girl recoiled as she shouted this.

"A burger." I shrugged.

"Why is it purple?! Is that a tenticle sticking out?!" Mustache girl put a hand over her mouth, as she barley got this out.

"It adds flavour. Also aren't most burgers purple?" I asked, wondering why she looked like she'd just seen a ghost.

"No! They aren't! Do you have anything that, you know, people that aren't just aliens eat!?" Mustache girl was practically begging me to put it away. Shame.

I searched around some more, thinking I'd need to find something Cooking Cat made. Which meant holding off on pizza. Seriously, what kind of person doesn't like rocks and coconuts on their pizza? I figured Mustache girl was probably that person, so after some more digging I found a batch of cupcakes Cooking Cat made.

"That! Let's eat that! I'm pretty sure that's the only thing in there that won't kill me!" Mustache girl exclaimed, pointing to the batch.

We walked out of the kitchen, cupcakes in hand, splitting them six each. Yet Mustache girl had already eaten all of her's before we even got to my room! Whatever, I didn't think much of it as we headed inside.

"Check it out! This is my room!" I told her proudly.

Mustache girl looked around, admiring my drawings on the wall, my toy chest, my bed and my pillow fort...well most of it anyway.

"Is that big, metal door supposed to be in the pillow fort?" She questioned, confused.

"Nope! One of those goat guys threw it in here. And I can't fix my room's wall either, since the door will have to fit through it." I explained, thinking about all the work I'll have to do later.

"...Sorry about that." Mustache girl told me, guiltily.

"It's whatever. Now, I'm going to clean the ship up a bit. You just...look around in my room for a while. I promise when I get back, we'll have the best sleepover ever!" I explained to Mustache girl, who looked disappointed I was leaving, yet that last part made her seem happier.

"Alright then! You better come back soon Hat Kid!" Mustache girl told me, waving.

"You know I will!" I shouted to her down the hall, as I walked away from my room.

I spent a couple hours tidying up the ship. Replacing the carpet, taking knives out of walls, putting wooden boards over the cracked glass, typical repairs. This gave me time to think about Mustache girl. And how I DEFINITELY preferred nice Mustache girl to the...less than nice person she was before. Still, no matter what, she had always done something because she felt it was right, because she was passionate about it, and I respect that! And I respect her now more than ever, since we're actually a team! I knew this was going to be so much fun!

After I finished all the typical repairs, it was time for the big one. Rumbi. I collected all the pieces off the floor and brought them into my machine room, putting on a doctor's mask. I was ready for some robot surgery.

...Which basically amounted to me digging through my books, trying to find the manual for Rumbi. Seeing what parts go where, and how wires connect and stuff. Now, the manual didn't mention anything about when it's shattered into thousands of peices, but I know that's nothing glue can't fix! Still, Rumbi was my personal robot companion throughout my whole time near this planet, so I was getting pretty anxious about wether I'd be able to actually fix it or not.

Finally, after fully reassembling the robot, I turned it upside down and pressed the on switch, placing it on the desk in front of me, surrounded by tools, spare parts, and of course, glue.

After around a minute of waiting, Rumbi's pink, electronic eyes blinked open, looking around curiously, before finding me. Causing it to back flip out of joy. 

"Thank. You!" Rumbi congratulated me, appreciating my hard work.

"No problem buddy!" I told the robot, giggling out of joy.

Suddenly, a heard a shout from across the space ship.

"HAT KID! I WANT TO SHOW YOU SOMETHING!" Mustache girl called from, presumably my room.

Then, I had an idea.

"There's someone I want you to meet. Come with me!" I happily exclaimed to Rumbi, as it jumped into my arms.

How long had it been since I last check on Mustache girl? Three? Four hours? Oh no, I was way busier than I thought I'd be, and I felt my heart sink as a result. Still, I made it to my room's door, yet before it opened, Mustache girl told me to wait outside for a second.

"Alright. So I decided to have a look around your room since...you left me here, and I found something in your closet that I think you should look at...because I love it." Mustache girl informed me, excited.

"You found the body!?" I exclaimed, horrified.

"Uhhhh what?" Mustache girl muttered from behind the door.

"I'm kidding, I'm kidding." I explained, calming down Rumbi, who panicked at the statement.

"Alright then...ok! I'm ready! You can come in now!" Mustache girl excitedly asked me.

I walked into my room, Rumbi in hand, wondering what she would show me. I caught sight of the open closet doors, filled with my (now multiple) outfits from my adventures in Death Wishes.

Yet I saw one outfit was missing, but I couldn't quite remember which one. That is, until Mustache girl jumped out from behind the closet...and holy peck this was the greatest thing I'd ever seen.

Mustache girl. Was wearing. My Nyakuza outfit. The jacket. The cat ears. The mask, which her Mustache stuck out of, sitting on top of the mask, yet still leaving the cat face uncovered by it. She was even posing with the baseball bat on her shoulders. I was completely speechless.

"I never expected you to have something this...this...cool! Oh and the mask too? It's perfect!" Mustache girl excitedly explained...and I completely agreed.

"It fires money you know!" I told her, jumping up and down in excitement.

"It does what?!" Mustache girl began jumping herself.

She quickly began trying to get it to work, before she began shaking her hand, causing some of those 'dollars' to appear.

"Hat Kid! Why didn't you tell me about this? I love it!" Mustache girl praised the outfit as she wacked stacks of cash into the pillow fort with the baseball bat.

"I didn't think you'd really care. But I'm glad you do!" Both of us were practically bouncing off the walls, because of how incredible the sight of Mustache girl in this outfit was.

"Also, there's someone I want you to meet!" I told her, my excitement only increasing.

"Well, go on then!" Mustache girl asked me, obviously still ecstatic herself.

"Meet Rumbi!" I turned Rumbi towards her, so Rumbi's eyes could finally see Mustache girl.

Strangely though, Rumbi bounced out of my hands and slid across the floor in the opposite direction once seeing Mustache girl, making disapproving beeps as it slammed against the exit.

"Rumbi! That's no way to treat Mustache girl! She's the best!" I picked up Rumbi and placed it back in the main hall, thinking I'd discuss this with it later.

Once I got back, I could just feel the pure joy oozing from Mustache girl.

"You know Hat Kid? You're way too nice!" Mustache girl told me, gleefully giggling to herself.

"Thanks I know." I replied, smirking.

"Hey!" Mustache girl gave me a friendly shove into the pillows for that, which eventually just became a pillow fight.

No. This was no mere fight. This was a pillow war...well, there was a giant iron door in the way. But still, the fight lasted over an hour, and I was pretty sure our voices were getting tired of laughing so much.

The fight eventually stopped by calling a truce, after diving into the mass of pillows and lying on top of them, facing the ceiling.

"Oh man, I could do this forever...what now?" Mustache girl asked me, continuing to look up at the ceiling.

My eyes went back to my still open closet.

"Hmmm...wanna try on some more outfits?" I offered, to an immediate yes.

And so Mustache girl put on every last one of them...except for the Queen's dress. Because she told me dresses are too girly for her. Which was a shame. Still, I got to wear my Nyakuza Outfit, which Mustache girl said was compelety adorable on me (not sure if Empress would've wanted that though, but I really appreciated it).

After just goofing around some more, we eventually began putting everything back in the closet, played some video games, and more activities of that nature for the rest of the night. We had all the time in the world, since we wouldn't need to head out to get more Time Pieces until the white light surrounding an area with Time Pieces on the planet disappeared. Since then it would be safe to go there once the light was gone...even if there was still no light around Subcon. And while there wasn't a strong Time Peice signal there, Snatcher was proabbly in his forest. But I really liked hanging out with Mustache girl so I figured Snatcher could wait just a liiiiiittle longer.

Still, we began to get tired. So we finally decided to head off to bed, yet once we got to my room I realised...Mustache girl had nowhere to sleep.

"Hey Hat Kid? Is there a spare bed or something?" Mustache girl asked me, now in her usual clothes.

"Uhhhh...there isn't. But don't worry! You can...sleep in my bed! I'll sleep in the pillow fort!" I offered Mustache girl, who shook her head.

"No way! I'm not taking anything else from you!" Mustache girl objected.

"It's not taking something! I'm giving it to you! The pillow fort is comfy, I'll be fine." I told Mustache girl, smiling at her.

I dived into the fort, avoiding the metal door stuck in it, swimming around the pillows to prove my point.

"Well, I'm still not taking your bed Hat Kid so...," Mustache girl shot me a toothy grin, before jumping into the fort after me, "I guess I'll be sleeping in here too!"

We both exchanged laughs, as we lay on the surface of the pillow ocean. Sleepovers are so much fun! But it was getting to that time of night where I had to go write in my diary.

"Hey Mustache girl, I'm gonna go write in my diary real quick. I'll see you later." I told Mustache girl, before diving deep into the pillows.

But before I did, Mustache girl spoke again.

"You keep a diary? Don't you think that's something just, you know, little kids do?" Mustache girl asked, teasing me a little.

"Hey! It is not! Big kids do it!" I defended, sticking my head up from the pillows.

Mustache girl just responded with a chuckle, before I went down into my little hide out, ignoring her teasing. I guess every person has their downsides. Whatever. Speaking of her, that's what I wrote about. Mustache girl. She was essentially everything I had been trying to make Snatcher...a good person. Sure she didn't like diaries, dresses or purple burgers, but those things didn't matter to me. It was the bigger things that mattered. And I was grateful to her for helping me beat the Mafia Boss! And playing with me! And...being there for me, when nobody else is right now.

After I finished, I popped my head back up, where I saw Mustache girl, facing away from me, looking at something. Curious, I silently got out of my pillow fort, tip-toeing towards her on the edges of it to see what she was doing. 

Mustache girl was slouching over something, sitting on top of the pillows. She was moving her hand in a strange motion. A deliberate motion. After getting closer, I saw she was leaning over a small book and holding...a pen? Wait a minute.

"You've got a diary, haven't you Mustache girl?" I whispered in her ear, as I put on a smug face.

"Huh!? Y-you're finished writing!?" Mustache girl jumped backwards, clearly startled.

"Yup! So...are you?" I continued my teasing.

"H-hey! I don't have-," Mustache girl noticed the book in her hand, quickly hiding it in her robe, "-a diary! No way! I was just...reading!"

"Then why were you writing in the book?" I pushed further.

"Well I!...Alright fine. I-uh, keep a journal. But don't tell ANYONE about this!" Mustache girl ordered me, which was met with laughing on my part.

"Sure. Just don't go making fun of diaries again!" I told her.

"Well, I keep a journal. Not a diary." Mustache girl attempted to boast.

"Same thing. I write down all my thoughts in my diary! All my secrets! Everything! What do you write in your 'journal' that's so different?" I interrogated her, as she began twirling her hair, clearly embarrassed.

"Well...I-...I write the same things." Mustache girl admitted.

"See? I told you so!" It was my turn to show off.

"Whatever. Let's just go to bed." Mustache girl yawned, jumping into the pillow pile after turning off the lights.

"Go to pillows." I corrected, giggling.

She also laughed at this, before she lay down and presumably fell asleep.

...I couldn't sleep. Despite closing my eyes, feeling perfectly comfortable, I couldn't sleep. The Time Pieces were all I could think about. About what they were doing to people. About how their power was being abused. And hoping that my friends wouldn't use it against me...again. Still, it wasn't all bad. I wasn't getting them back alone this time. I looked to my right, where Must-wait a minute...where was Mustache girl? She definitely fell asleep there, right?

I scanned the room, looking everywhere. No Mustache girl. I turned around, desperate to...oh wait there she was! But, she was awake. On the outer parts of the pillow fort, staring at the view of space from the window.

I climbed out of the fort sitting close to her, at her left while I rubbed my eyes. Mustache girl noticed me, greeting me with a warm smile.

"Having trouble going to snooze town?" Mustache girl asked, before looking back out the window. 

"Yeah...how about you?" I questioned her, yawning.

"Nah, I always have trouble getting to sleep. Still, this is gonna be the best rest I've had in ages!" Mustache girl exclaimed, excited.

"Why's that?" I thought out loud.

"Sleeping in a cave outside every night isn't very good for you...And having to stay alert watching out for Mafia every night doesn't help." Mustache girl sighed, while staring off into literal space.

"Oh...I'm-...so sorry." I told her, putting a hand on Mustache girl's shoulder, something she seemed to appricate.

There was a pause after that. We just sat there, watching the stars. Before Mustache girl asked me something this time.

"What's your planet like?" Mustache girl inquired, still facing the window.

"Oh, it's um, you know. I live there and...stuff." I answered, surprised by the question.

"I feel like that's not all there is to it." Mustache girl replied.

"...can I ask you something?" I now questioned her, feeling a little uncomfortable.

"Of course you can." Mustache girl answered, looking at my hand on her shoulder for a brief moment before moving a little more to the left. Smiling.

"Do you...think about the Time Pieces much?" I asked her.

"Everyday. I hate them Hat Kid. I really, really do. For what I've done with them and all the trouble they've caused you. All the trouble I've caused you." Mustache girl said, almost repeating herself.

"Don't feel bad. Please, I don't want that...because...because I hate them too." I admitted, letting out a large sigh, as if a huge weight had been lifted off my chest.

"Why?" She drew her eyes away from space now to look at me, concerned.

"They're too powerful. So many people have and will abuse that power...And I hate that. I don't think many of them will end up being anywhere near as good of a person as you either, Mustache girl. The only reason I'm collecting them is to prevent that power. To stop that power. I know that now, after being near this planet for months." I barley got out, as Mustache girl went a little red when I spoke so highly of her.

She turned back towards the window.

"After all of this is over, you'll have to leave. Won't you?" Mustache girl told me, hopelessly.

"I will. I've already stayed here too long. I'll have to go back to my...home planet, once I have them all again." I began forcing myself to stay composed, and calm.

"I know...could you do me a favour before you leave?" Mustache girl asked me, in a similar way to how people have asked for Time Pieces in the past...but I knew she wasn't going to do that to me.

"Of course I can. You name it." I told her, trying to be confident.

"Could you lend me a couple Pons before you leave? I...I don't know how many more nights I can last without food down there." Mustache girl lowered her head, guiltily.

I was completely speechless at this...but it did make sense, since she wasn't welcome in Mafia Town, she couldn't get a job to buy any food...or water...or shelter...

"Of course. Take as many as you need. I-...I had no idea." I took my hand away from Mustache girl, letting my head lean on it, feeling a pit in my stomach.

"Thanks kid. I can take care of myself most of the time. It's just that...well, I can barley find enough scraps to survive off of. Most of the time, I have to steal fish from the Mafia. Since I don't know the first thing about fishing, they all just swim away from me." Mustache girl told me, as that pit only grew deeper.

There was another long pause before Mustache girl spoke again.

"What are your parents like Hat Kid?" Mustache girl asked another question, this seeming harder for her to get out this time.

"I-...I don't remember them. Heck, I don't know if I even have parents! My best guess is I've just forgot about them while travelling out here...but why would I forget them? And why would they let me travel alone?" I asked myself honestly, as I hid my eyes beneath my hat.

"My parents proabbly evacuated when the Mafia arrived. At least, that's what I hope. What I do remember though, is actively staying on the island, to hopefully one day take it back from the Mafia! But, you can see how well that's going..." Mustache girl mumbled to herself. The pit in my stomach once again grew, almost consuming me.

I took a deep breath, looking away from Mustache girl, who was still staring at space.

"You've been out adventuring for a while, haven't you?" Mustache girl noticed, still staring out the window with me.

"I...yeah. That's all I can remember really. Kids aren't really known for our great memory skills. But honestly? Out of all the places I've visited in the past, out here in space...this one is easily my favourite. I don't care how many times this planet is gonna take those Time Pieces, I'll always find a new reason to love this place...thanks for giving me another reason, Mustache girl." I was tearing up, but I no longer cared. I turned to her, noticing her bright red face, even in the dark of the night.

"Hat Kid...you're the best. I don't care if you're an alien. I don't care if you have to go home. I-...I'm just glad you're happy here. What you just said...what you've done...thank you...so much..." Mustache girl was also beginning to cry.

Mustache girl and I sat there in the dark, crying at the thought of the future. Well, I was anyway. Mustache girl was crying...yet was also happy? I saw her smiling, so I think that was case? Still, it was bitter sweet. And eventually, we returned to the pillow fort, exhausted.

The next morning, I woke up an hour early. Well, I guess it's not really early anymore. Snatcher always wakes me up right about now...or, he used to. I couldn't help but miss my contractually bound BFF. Still, I raised my head, and was about to get out of the pillow fort, when I felt as if I couldn't properly move my left arm. Looking over to it, I found Mustache girl, lying on it. Clutching it tightly, not wanting to let go, even in sleep. I decided to let her keep my arm for a couple more minutes as I just looked at her. She held the arm tightly across her chest, with most of her lower body below the fort, and her head above it. Her hood was down too, showing off her messy blonde hair. This definetly wasn't a situation I thought I'd ever find myself in...but I liked it. It was nice knowing someone had my back this adventure...And my arm.

Still, I eventually, slowly pulled it out from under her, looking at the sleeping girl a little longer, before leaving. Our conversation from the previous night still echoing in my head.

Walking into the main room, I found Rumbi, cleaning up as usual.

"Good morning Rumbi!" I cheerfully told it, leaning down and waving at the robot.

"Good morning. Did you sleep well?" Rumbi asked me.

"I certainly did! Better than usual actually! How about you?" I asked it, watching the machine work.

"I cannot sleep." Rumbi stated, as it continued moving around.

"Oh...yeah..." I muttered, forgetfully.

Speaking of forgetfulness though, there was something I wanted to do today...but what was it? I began pondering to myself, before realising what it was. Quickly, I ran back to my room, digging through my closet for extra Sprint, Brewing, Ice and Time stop hats. Plus an extra Dweller Mask, just in case.

Putting them in my pockets for safe keeping, I walked away from my room again, leaving the sleeping princess back there...she'd proabbly hate me calling her that...heh.

I poured myself a cup of warm milk, as I looked at the planet in front of me, seeing the glaring absence of yet another glowing white light...meaning I still wouldn't be able to talk to Snatcher, since there was a stronger signal in the now light-less area...that's a shame.

Yeah, that was really eating away at me. Seriously, I could not wait to find out what his deal is. Thanks to Mustache girl, I know changing someone who's done some bad...ok, a lot of bad, IS possible, I just have to figure out how exactly Snatcher works. He's a tough nut to crack.

Anyway, the spot of light that cleared appeared to be...at Dead bird studio? I thought that would be one of the last ones to clear honestly, since Conductor and Grooves seem like the type of people to fight over Time Peices. Still, the differences in the landscape here weren't immediately noticeable, unlike Mafia Town. The place was still a desert, that's for sure. Even if I couldn't see the Dead bird studio building from space, I figured that's proabbly where most of the change occurred. I was just about to go wake up Mustache girl when-

"WELCOME TO YET ANOTHER DAY OF SPACE ADVENTURE!" My alarm blared throughout the ship, making me cover my ears in response, as I scrambled for the switch to turn it off.

Snatcher was right...that thing IS annoying! I should proabbly replace it. Then, I saw the door to my room open, with Mustache girl walking out, holding her head.

"Ugh, what was that?" Mustache girl asked holding her head, proabbly wanting to stay in bed (in pillows?) longer.

"My alarm. It...well, it works." I told her, turning around in my chair at the controls of the ship.

"Whatever. Anyway, how about we go beat up some bad guys?" Mustache girl suggested egarly.

"Well, hopefully we won't have to do that...but in case we do," I took the hats out of my pocket, throwing them to Mustache girl, "you should have these!"

"Woah! Thanks!" Mustache girl caught them all, immediately putting on the Nyakuza mask I made sure to bring.

She began playing around with all the hat abilities non-stop and wondering what the heck the Dweller mask is supposed to do. Yeah, I doubted she'd really understand it.

"Oooooohhhh these are great! But eh, I like a good challenge. I'll proabbly only use the hats if I absolutely HAVE to." Mustache girl informed me, putting away all the hats into her robe.

"Fair enough. Anyway, the first place we're going is Dead bird studio! You ready?" I questioned her, as Mustache girl grinned.

"I'm psyched!" She told me, pulling out the baseball bat from yesterday.

And so, we headed down there. There wasn't any toxic fumes in the air this time either. So it was pretty safe dropping down there with the Hover badge, after going into the planet's atmosphere...even if Mustache girl had to hang onto me, since she didn't have an umbrella. Once we landed in the Dead bird studio parking lot something was...off. Being that, it seemed that not much had changed. Besides a large, cardboard Conductor face on the front of the studio.

The two of us walked up to the studio. I held out my umbrella in case of a fight, while Mustache girl decided she'd use her fists instead, putting away the baseball bat.

Upon closer inspection, we noticed a red ticket booth at the front of the building, with a sign above it reading, 'The Conductor theatre!' The booth was ran by the receptionist owl, so we walked up to him to figure out what was going on here.

"Hi!" I told him, tying to pull my head over the counter to look at him from where we were standing.

"Welcome to the Conductor theatre. What movie are you here to see?" The bird asked, bored, looking down at a sheet of paper.

"Uh actually big guy. We want to go see the guy running the show here." Mustache girl responded, cracking her knuckles.

I gave her a look in response to this, causing her to stop. Smiling shyly at me. While the owl looked up from his sheet, staring at Mustache girl.

"Uh-huh. Do you want tickets or not?" The receptionist asked once again, bored to tears.

I walked back a little so he could see me, after failing to get my head above the counter. Once I came into view however, his boredom vanished instantly.

"It's you!," the bird leaned over his desk, hushing his voice, "listen lil'chirper. You gotta help us out here. The Conductor's gone nuts! I haven't been home for days! My shift was always bad but this is ridiculous!"

"Wait what?!" I gasped, surprised.

The bird put his feathered hand below the desk, before taking out two tickets and hastily sliding them under the glass window.

"Here! Take these for you and uh, whoever that is...haven't I heard of you? Whatever. Just, go on in!" The receptionist owl told us, urging us to go in.

We took the tickets, pushing open the glass door with The Conductor's face on the handle replacing the Dead bird studio logo, leading to a dark hallway, which lead to yet another glass door of a similar design.

"Ready to get your Time Pieces back Hat Kid?" Mustache girl asked me, holding out her fist.

"With you? You bet!" I enthusiastically responded, giving each other a fist bump excitedly.

Pushing open the second glass door, lead to a rather...different looking lobby. It was huge, proabbly around ten times the size of the Dead bird studio waiting room! This wasn't a movie studio anymore, that's for sure. The lobby had a blue carpet, with black walls. An area to buy popcorn, a couple arcade machines all with a western theme, and a hallway to go down to the various movie screens at the end of the room. The lobby also included a large trophy case, complete with over a hundred movie awards. Plus various advertisements for movies, all directed by the Conductor, hung on the walls.

Now, this movie theatre...was completely packed. Express Owls were everywhere. The line for popcorn took up around half the room in this place!

"Mmmm oh that smells so good." Mustache girl sniffed at the air, smelling of popcorn.

Feeling terrible, I was going to buy her some. When she pulled me away from the line by the hand.

"Don't worry about me. I'll be fine. We need those Time Pieces more than some stupid popcorn anyway." Mustache girl shot me a tiny smile, unconvincingly.

"Are you sure?" I asked in response, still concerned.

"Y-yeah. Now, where could someone be hiding those Time Peices?" Mustache girl pondered, placing a hand on her chin as she looked around the large room.

"Maybe we should go talk to some people? You know, see if we can figure out how to find them?" I suggested, to which Mustache girl agreed.

There were many Owls not in the line who were all talking to each other. As well as a handful of Crows and...a pair of Nyakuza cats? Um...the birds seemed to be avoiding them as best they could, so we decided not to talk to them first.

We went up to four Express Owls, all sounding relatively concerned.

"So, how many movies are you filming today?" One owl asked another.

"Six! Six different movies! I don't even like cinema! I just wanted to go to work!...I am so fired." Another Express Owl responded, worriedly.

"You think six is bad? I'm doing ten tomorrow! I'll be lucky to get an hour of sleep! I heard that in one, he's going to tie me to train tracks! Real train tracks!" One Owl freaked out, as the others listened intently.

It was then that they noticed me waiting to talk to them.

"Oh hi there!...What's going on?" I interrogated, shyly.

The Express Owls all had a wave of relief wash over them once they saw me. Running up to me, shaking my hands, wiping sweat from their feathered brows.

"You're here! It's the kid! She's back! You beat him up once kid. Do it again! I never want to even look at another movie or train for the rest of my life! You have to help us out here!" An Express Owl pleaded, pacing around in front of me, clearly anxious.

"Woah, looks like you've got quite a reputation huh?" Mustache girl joked, as I nodded in resoonse, not being able to talk over all the Owls.

Once she finished however, the Express Owls froze, slowly turning their was a towards her. Backing away.

"It's-it's-it's, HER! She's back! Oh this just keeps getting worse. Please! Don't hurt us! We aren't 'bad guys' or anything! We didn't take the kid's Time Peices! I swear!" An Owl shouted in fear, putting his back against the wall.

It seemed that this attracted quite a bit of attention too, as many Owls surrounding us began murmuring amongst themselves, staring at Mustache girl.

Mustache girl was looking around, clearly feeling quite anxious herself at how these Owls all viewed her. She twirled her hair with her hand, uncharacteristicly nervous at what people were saying.

So, I stepped in. Walking in front of her and outstreching my arms.

"Woah woah woah! You guys have it all wrong! She's with me! It's ok! Mustache girl wouldn't hurt any of you!" I shouted, seemingly calming the crowd.

Everyone went back to what they were doing, still remaining cautious of Mustache girl. It seems I didn't really convince them, as much as I temporarily stopped the panic. Owls visibly watching their backs.

I turned to Mustache girl, who was trying to remain calm, still nervously twirling her hair. A habit she had proabbly developed during the months I hadn't seen her. Going up to Mustache girl, I placed a hand on her shoulder, something which always seemed to make her feel better as I spoke to her.

"It's ok. Just ign-," but before I could finish, two tall black cats walked up to us.

They weren't wearing any Nyakuza masks, but their shady nature made it pretty clear they were up to no good.

"Hey. You seem to be quite the character. Very intimidating. Don't you agree?" The cat on the left asked, checking to see if anyone else was listening.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Mustache girl questioned them, proabbly unsure if she should be flattered or insulted.

"The boss said she'd be interested in a few more people like you," the right cat told her, while tossing her a black card, "we'll be in touch."

Before we could ask anything to these guys, they quickly walked away from us, out of the theatre. Although, I had a feeling they wouldn't be leaving perminantly.

I leaned over to see what the card was. The card was black, with a bunch of numbers on it. It also had two triangles at one end of the card, resembling cat ears.

"So...any idea what that was about? Mustache girl asked me.

"I have no idea. But they're bad news. Trust me, they are the type of people you do NOT want to get involved with." I informed Mustache girl, making absolutely sure she got the message.

Mustache girl threw the card over her shoulder, winking at me.

"Hey. If you don't like 'em, then I don't either. We're a team, remember? You and me!" Mustache told me with a toothy smile, as I was relieved.

Suddenly, I heard Crows. Lots of Crows. All of them were walking out of the hall that lead to the movie screens, talking to someone.

"Why, what is the factor that contributed to your flawless success, the most?" One Crow asked.

"How can you make masterpiece after masterpiece, so effortlessly?" Another Crow questioned.

"Does it have anything, to do with the, wisdom and knowledge you have gained, from your countless years as a director?" A Crow interviewed.

"Alright alright, back it up people. I'd like to hear some cheerin' from me fans now." The Conductor spoke, as the Crows all backed away, giving the Conductor a view of the lobby.

...scilence. Everyone was eyeing Mustache girl and I, who the Conductor had yet to notice. He coughed, pulling out a Time Piece from his pocket, before speaking again.

"I SAID! I'D LIKE TO HEAR SOME CHEERIN'! MAKE SOME NOISE PECKNECKS!" The Conductor ordered the lobby, as he held the Time Piece in the air.

In a panic, all the Owls began clapping. They cheered, whistled and gushed about how incredible The Conductor was, how he was an amazing director and (of course) about how good his train was. The Owls were clapping non-stop, while still looking back at Mustache girl and I.

"Sheesh. Somebody seems a little too in love with themselves huh? Total. Loser." Mustache girl whispered to me, as we both giggled at this.

It was then that The Conductor took notice of me, quickly placing the Time Piece in his pocket, causing everyone to stop cheering. He glared at his Express Owls, before they decided it would be smarter to just keep going. The Conductor walked up to me, hands behind his back, with a smile.

"Why hello lass! Didn't expect to see you here! But, oh ho! I'm glad you are! Check it out lassie! I did it! I fixed me winning streak!" The Conductor grabbed me, placing an arm around me as he put me in front of his trophy case.

And surely enough, every Anual Bird Movie Award was there. Strangely, the dates on the later ones seemed to exceed the current year.

"With these Time Peices, I was able to undo that one wee mistake in me career. And to celebrate, I opened a movie theatre!" The Conductor gleefully explained, extending the 'r' on 'theatre'.

"Well, uh Conductor. That's what I actually wanted to talk to you about." I told him, moving out of the bird's grasp, looking at Mustache girl, trying to push past the Crows.

"Me movie theatre? Why, lass! I'd love to!" The Conductor exclaimed, clearly enjoying this.

"Uh, not exactly. I was actually wondering if...I could have those Time Pieces back...please?" I asked him, making his smile disappear.

He turned away from me, as the crowd went slient when they heard what I asked.

"Oh. Oh, ho ho hoooooo! Ya...didn't learn from last time. Didja lass?" The Conductor told me, menacingly.

Finally, Mustache girl made her way past the birds in the crowd, clearing more space around the three of us. Mustache girl looked over at the Conductor, visibly angry.

"Listen you. You're going to give back her Time Pieces. We don't want any trouble. We are just going to take the Time Pieces and leave. Ok?" Mustache girl told him, pointing in his direction.

The Conductor turned around, finding out who the voice belonged to. He stepped forward. Oddly calm, leaning over Mustache girl.

"And why do you think I'm going to listen to you peckneck?" The Conductor taunted.

"Hey! Don't talk to her like that!" I defended Mustache girl, running up to her as The Conductor placed his hand on my head, making sure I wouldn't get in front of her.

"One second lass. Don't worry. I'll help ya out before we talk about our buisness." The Conductor told me, before grinning, looking back at Mustache girl.

"And what's that supposed to mean? Get your hands off her you creep!" Mustache girl ordered him, but was met with chuckling.

"Oh no. Not until through I'm through with ya. So. What gave ya the nerve to come back 'ere, and beg me for me Time Pieces eh?" The Conductor continued to taunt.

"Look buddy. You are REALLY getting on my nerves. I don't care who you are, how many movies you've made, or how many stupid awards you've won. Give. Us. The Time Pieces." Mustache girl demanded, getting in The Conductor's face.

I could barely watch. It hurt seeing how much my Time Pieces were turning people against each other...just like they always do...

"Why mustached lass! That's awfully rich comin' from you, isn't it? Last time you had 'em, ya caused quite the ruckus now didn't 'cha?" The Conductor belittled her, as Mustache girl was starting to become furious.

"Shut it! Give us the Time Peices before I punch you so hard you go flying out the window you...BAD GUY!" Mustache girl threatened, bearing her fist, breathing heavily.

"Oh, now I'M the villian am I? Why lass. I thought we told you to GET LOST!" The Conductor snapped back at her.

Mustache girl's expression completely changed after hearing that phrase once again. She went pale, her anger fading away instantly. Mustache girl's fist dropped, as if the words had sapped away all her strength and courage. Mustache girl began to shake too. The words completely crippled her.

"That's right lassie. Now run along. Because I think we know who the real bad guy 'ere is, don't we?" The Conductor spat at Mustache girl.

Mustache girl began shaking more now, as the crowd began shouting at her.

"Get lost! You're the bad guy! Bad guy! Bad guy! Get lost!" The birds all chanted, as Mustache girl looked around at all of them. 

A few months ago, she'd just shout at them all. Coming up with some witty remark. Or going up to punch one of them, to set an example. But now she stood there, in the middle of them all, shaking, head hanging low, as tears hit the floor.

"THAT'S ENOUGH! STOP IT! ALL OF YOU!" I shouted to everyone, silencing them, holding out my umbrella.

I looked behind me at Mustache girl, who wiped her eyes, giving me a weak smile, going red again as I helped her up. Still, she stood behind me, as she continued to wipe her eyes.

"All of you! Look at yourselves! You think she's 'the bad guy'? You're standing there, shouting at her! Telling her to leave! When she's done NOTHING wrong! Sure, she's done bad stuff in the past, but I can accept that. I can forgive her for that. And if you can't? You have NO right to say she's the bad guy. Maybe you should all get lost, because if you want to get to Mustache girl, you're going through me first!" I shouted, livid, as I showed the crowd the umbrella.

Everyone went silent. Ashamed of themselves for shouting at this girl. Even the Conductor was tugging at his shirt's collar nervously, knowing he was in the wrong. Nobody in that room had any idea as to what to do.

Then, the trophy case disappeared into a white light. As well as every Owl and Crow from The Conductor's movie theatre.

"Eh?! What's goin' on?!" The Conductor shouted as he looked around us.

Suddenly, we were in a rather...different theatre. Surrounded by Moon Penguins, as all the western arcade games were changed to space and sci-fi games. The advertisements were all for movies by DJ Grooves, and the awards all re-appeared, with his name engraved on it.

"Why hello there darlings! Hope I'm not interrupting anything, but I am just so glad to see all of MY awards in MY theatre!" DJ Grooves informed us, standing on the trophy case, Time Piece in hand.

"Grooves!" I exclaimed happily, turning a blind eye to the Time Piece he likely threw to cause this.

"Why hello lil'darling! I see you and that other girl have made up 'eh? I'm happy for the two of you darling! Unlike The Conductor over here, who I'm sure has just been AWFUL! Here, I'll just erase him from time real quick for you." DJ Grooves threw down a Time Piece, to my horror.

Sure, the Conductor was being a huge peckneck. As in, he was being a completely awful person that I hated. But erasing someone from existence?! That was too far.

I dived onto the ground, catching the Time Piece before it smashed. The Conductor wiped sweat from his...forehead? Does he have one of those? Whatever.

"Oh thank you lassie! Ha! Take that, DJ Groooovvveeessss! I'm still kickin'! And by the way, those awards ARE ALL MINE!" The Conductor snapped at him, picking me up off the ground and snatching the Time Piece, throwing it onto the ground, braking it.

We were transported back to The Conductor's theatre, surrounded by Owls once again. Mustache girl got up, holding her head. All this teleporting was likely making it spin. The Conductor turned to the two of us, ignoring Mustache girl for the sake of his pride.

"Lassie! Oh, how could I ever repay ya for savin' me life?" The Conductor asked me, genuinely thankful.

"You know what I want Conductor. Give me back the Time Pieces." I told him, sighing.

"Right...well, I have me awards back. So I'll get 'em for ya." The Conductor's told us, whilsting to some of his Owls, who went to go get them.

However, that's when a white light shined through the glass door of the theatre. I ran over to inspect it, finding another theatre now across the street. DJ Grooves' movie theatre. He was approaching with four Moon Penguins, all holding a large wooden chest, overflowing with Time Pieces! I turned around, to warn Mustache girl about the chaos I knew was coming. Mustache girl had stood back up now, no longer wiping away tears, seemingly back to her usual self. However her face changed expression upon seeing me run towards her.

"Hey, Hat Kid. I um...thanks for what you did back there...I-," but before she could finish her words, The Conductor returned with four Express Owls, holding a similar large chest of Time Pieces, placing it down in front of me.

"Alright lass. Here ya are. Now take 'em. Just make sure SHE goes nowhere near 'em!" The Conductor ordered, pointing at Mustache girl, still holding the grudge.

"Hey! Mustache girl's really nice you know? She's-," but I was cut off this time, as DJ Grooves barged in, placing down his own chest.

"Alright darling. Perhaps erasing you from time was a bit, er, exstreme. So I'll just be taking those Anual bird movie awards if you don't mind?" Grooves told the Conductor.

He reached a flipper into his Time Peice pile, throwing one on the floor, causing it to shatter, as the trophy case disappeared once again. The Conductor...was not happy.

"Oh yeah? Well, I think you won't mind if I take back MY awards!" The Conductor shouted, reaching into the chest, throwing down another Time Piece, causing the trophy case to re-appear.

I had to stop this. Before things got out of control. I ran between the pair, holding out my arms.

"Stop! You two don't know what you're doing!" I pleaded, yet to no avail.

"Why darling all I'm doing is taking back all the cheating the Conductor has done!" Grooves told me, throwing another Time Piece, as the trophies disappeared yet again.

"I'll give back yer Time Pieces once DJ PECKNECK OVER HERE leaves me awards alone!" The Conductor shouted, throwing another Time Piece.

"Stop braking them! They belong to Hat Kid you idiots!" Mustache girl backed me up, yet with no success.

The two reached into their piles of Time Pieces, pulling out one before throwing it on the ground, as they shattered, at the exact same time.

...nothing happened. The trophy case went no where. Confused, Grooves threw down another into the pile of glass shards, causing no change yet again. Suddenly, a white glow began to emit from the Time Piece shards on the floor, as a low rumbling sounded across the theatre, causing bits of popcorn on the ground to shake.

The Time Piece shards all began to move. Moving towards the middle of the pile. The shards created a small, white ball. The ball began growing. Sucking in shards on the floor, as the orb began to expand.

"Uh, Hat Kid? What's going on?" Mustache girl asked, nervously.

"That's-...a T-time paradox...it happens when Time Pieces create two opposite things, making a paradox...and they fix the paradox b-by...destroying everything in the surrounding area." I nervously told everyone, backing away.

Quickly the orb grew larger, sucking in the arcade machines, parts of the wall, the floor, and anything else around it. Then, I felt a tugging sensation. I looked at my feet, seeing I was sliding towards it...

"D-darling? H-how can we stop this?" DJ Grooves pleaded, hiding behind me for safety.

"Y-you don't. You can't stop Time Paradoxes, they j-just, go away once it's destroyed all it needs to. We need to get out of here." I told everyone, as I already saw Express Owls running through the doors, panicing.

"It's alright lassy. Look. We've got Time Pieces, we just need to-," the box of Time Pieces next to the Conductor was absorbed by the white void, as it only continued to expand.

"You can't fix this with more Time Pieces! We need to run!" I shouted, grabbing Mustache girl by the hand as I frantically tried to escape.

DJ Grooves and the Conductor weren't far behind either, as the white void broke through the roof of the theatre. I put on my sprint hat, as did Mustache girl, but I doubted it would be fast enough to outrun the void.

"We need a faster way out of this!" I shouted over the panicked Owls who were all screaming in terror.

"Everyone! Get to me train! That'll be fast enough! R-right?" The Conductor told the Owls and Penguins all running around the parking lot, as the Time Paradox caused cars to levitate off the ground, sucking them in.

"That's fast enough Conductor! Everybody! To the Owl Express!" I shouted to everyone, sprinting to the one train beside the parking lot, which hadn't lifted up due to it's sheer weight.

Mustache girl and I were some of the first people on the train, thanks to the sprint hats, followed by the Owls, then the Moon Penguins. It was complete anarchy as people were scrambling to the front of the train to turn it on. People were pushing past each other, while Mustache girl clutched my hand tightly, which I forgot I was still holding onto.

"It'll be ok. I promise." I told Mustache girl, as she smiled at me, hoping the same.

Finally, the Conductor made it on board. But not before the train began to roll backwards, towards the white void.

"Well, I made i-," but Mustache girl cut him off.

"DRIVE YOUR STUPID TRAIN ALREADY!" She screamed at him, as all the birds did the same, making a path for him to get to the front.

The Conductor ran as quickly as he could, pushing past birds and going through the door in the carriage Mustache girl and I were on...yet, then I realised something.

"W-where's DJ Grooves?" I asked, looking around, horrified, praying he got on before us.

I held onto my hat, sticking my head out the window, seeing that he'd tripped and was currently on the floor, trying to get up, slowing being pulled into the expanding Time Paradox.

"He's still out there! I'm going after him!" I shouted over the screams in the train.

"Are you crazy?!" Mustache girl replied, also shouting as I ran to the door.

"He's in danger! Stay here! I'll handle this myself!" I ordered Mustache girl, as I jumped out of the train, sprinting towards the void.

C.A.W agents were all running towards the train, as I jumped over them, sprinting to Grooves. He was limping towards the train, but was further behind than anyone else. And slower...he wasn't going to make it.

I sprinted. I pushed my sprint hat to it's absolute limit as I rushed towards Grooves, who collapsed onto the floor, desperately trying to get up again.

"Darlin'! Darlin'! My leg! I was runnin' towards the train when a car flew right into it! Help!" DJ Grooves shouted as I picked him up, holding him in my hand.

I ran, ran faster than I'd ever ran before as I sprinted towards the train. I began to feel my feet stay off the ground longer than I intended them to. I turned around, seeing that the white void was catching up to us.

"ALL ABOARD! NEXT STOP! ANYWHERE BUT HERE!" The Conductor shouted, as the train began chugging away from me.

Determined, I sprinted even faster, not caring about how exhausted my legs were, as Grooves hung onto me for dear life.

It was then when a car flew towards me. I tried sprinting to the right of it, yet before I could the car nocked me off my feet, hitting my legs. Sending me face first into the concrete. 

This was it. I was-...I was going to die. The Time Paradox was catching up. Fast. It kept growing and growing, like a black hole it inhaled anything it came across. Like it would do to me. But not just me. DJ Grooves was also going to be sucked into that void, thanks to him also landing face first on the floor below. I tried to get up. But my arms felt so weak. Almost as weak as my legs. I felt my body being dragged towards the void...this was it.

Then, I felt myself lift up. Up high...but...it wasn't into the void. Opening my eyes, I saw I lay ontop of DJ Grooves, who's outfit was being torn up by the void which sucked parts of it in. I felt...movement. Movement...away from the Time Paradox. But how? As I lay on DJ Grooves, I turned towards the Paradox. Seeing it take in the last parts of The Conductor's and DJ Grooves' movie theatres. Yet, we were being dragged away from it? Turning around once more, clinging to the DJ, I noticed we were being carried...by Mustache girl?! Wearing the sprint hat I gave her!

Looking past her, I saw the Owl Express, chugging away, fighting the void. We were edging closer to it too. Closer. Closer. Closer...until finally, we were thrown onto the train, lying in front of the door to the first train carriage. Mustache girl jumped on too, pulling us both inside, as we lay on the floor, too tired to say anything.

Moon Penguins were shouting. Cheering! DJ Grooves was here! I saw them all with my heavy eyes, as they all danced around carriage, yet clearing space for him, myself and Mustache girl.

"Oh please be ok, please be ok, please be ok." Mustache girl clutched my weak hand, eyes overflowing with tears.

I couldn't find the energy to speak. Yet when I coughed and began to slowly sit up after a minute of just sitting there, barley having the energy to stare at her, Mustache girl grabbed me. Held me tight. Tighter than I'd ever been held by anyone.

"Y-your...Hat Kid you..." Mustache girl then burst into tears.

The Moon Penguins then let out an incredible cheer, as DJ Grooves began to sit up too.

"Hello d-darlings! I-, I made it...but, if it wasn't for these two young ladies right here, I w-wouldn't be here right now. Give them a round of applause!" DJ Grooves coughed throughout this message, yet still got it out.

Moon Penguins all began cheering for us. Both of us. Whatever wrong Mustache girl had done had been forgotten to them. This more than made up for it. And the Owls were the same way! As they all came up to her from the next train carriage, congratulating her in saving Grooves...proabbly because they were sick of The Conductor at this point. But they still did it! And I was thrilled for her. We watched the white void fade away into the distance, as Mustache girl helped me stand up. I couldn't thank her enough.

The next few hours were a blur, as we eventually stopped at another station, as everyone got off, not caring where they were. Eventually, after a lot of convincing, The Conductor agreed to take us back to his former theatre, to look at just what happened there, since the Time Paradox would've destroyed all it needed to by then.

And surely enough, what replaced the bird's movie theatres was an enormous crater. Looking to be around fifty feet deep. And at the bottom...sat all the Time Pieces that were sucked into that void.

"How did you know this would be here?" Mustache girl questioned me, stunned, as she was still helping me stand up, since I'd hurt my legs pretty badly.

"Let's just say, I've dealt with this kind of thing before..." I told her, reminding myself of my previous experiences on other planets.

I then handed Mustache girl my Hover badge and umbrella.

"Take these. Go down there, smash one, and get us back to the ship with the Time Pieces." I told Mustache girl, who nodded.

She equipped the badge to her sprint hat, before jumping into the pit, opening the umbrella at just the right time.

"She's really somethin', ain't she?" The Conductor told me, walking out of his train.

"You could say that again." I replied, smiling at her down there.

I saw her shoot me a thumbs up, before smashing a Time Piece from the pile, as we disappeared into a white light...


	6. Subcon Standoff

We emerged from the blinding white light, appearing back at the centre of my ship's main hall, a pile of around seventy Time Pieces behind Mustache girl and I.

"We did it!" I shouted triumphantly, jumping in the air.

When I landed though, a sharp pain ran through my leg. I winced at this, bending down and holding my left leg.

"What's up? Oh...is it bad?" Mustache girl knelt down next to me, clearly concerned.

"Nope! I'll be fine, it's nothing a few health pons can't fix!" I confidently stood back up, my leg still stinging a little.

I figured I'd just look for some health pons during my next visit down on the planet. Since, I don't keep any up here.

"Alright, just...be careful Hat Kid." Mustache girl warned, looking away from me and twirling her hair with her hand.

"You know I will!" I exclaimed, placing my arm around Mustache girl, giving her a hug, trying to reassure her.

Mustache girl began nervously laughing, as she became that familiar red color...she did that a lot. Honestly, I just figured that was some weird thing people from this planet did, so I didn't think too much of it.

We turned towards the large mass of Time Pieces sitting behind the two of us, picking them up a few at a time and bringing them to the vault. I saw Mustache girl looked a little uneasy carrying all these Time Pieces. When she picked them up she occasionally went slightly pale, clearly distressed. But, I was able to calm her down as we continued to carry them. I usually just shot her a cheery smile, then she seemed to start feeling a lot better. I'll admit though, it was pretty strange seeing Mustache girl so...hesitant to do something.

Nevertheless, we placed the last Time Piece in the vault and closed it, another job well done! I ran off to the window, jumping down to it from the vault, landing on my stomach for the sake of my leg.

I got up and placed my hands on the glass, staring at the planet before me. Mustache girl approached in the reflection, staring with me. Many areas on the planet coated in that shinning, white light. Still, Mafia Town was back to it's old self, which was even noticeable from space. And since we just got all the Time Pieces back from Dead bird studio, it was back t-...wait what? The land surrounding Dead bird studio was coated in the light!

"Uh, Hat Kid? Didn't we just get back all the Time Pieces from there? Why is it...doing whatever that is?" Mustache girl questioned me, turning in my direction.

"We did get them all? Didn't we?" I began to doubt myself, and ran over to the vault and opened it.

Yeah. All the Time Pieces DJ Grooves and The Conductor had were in there. So...what happened? I ran to the controls of the space ship, my leg aching from the movement. Mustache girl stood beside me as I began pressing buttons and brought up a radar of the planet. The radar showed...there were still Time Pieces in the land surrounding Dead bird studio? And that they were currently changing the environment...faaaaantastic.

"Did we miss some? D-did I screw up somehow?" Mustache girl inquired, doubting herself.

I turned to her in the chair, remaining positive.

"Of course not! We just, didn't look over there! I'm guessing the signal was just stronger in the studio itself, meaning we missed some in the desert." I explained to Mustache girl, reassuring her.

"I guess so." Mustache girl agreed, still lacking her usual confidence.

I raised an eyebrow at this. What was up with her?

"Hey, Mustache girl. It's no big deal ok? Besides, there's proabbly a only a couple Time Pieces down there, what's the worst that could happen?" I reassured her, getting up from my chair, despite knowing that even one Time Piece missing is DEFINITELY a big deal.

"Alright then, but...what now? Are we just gonna head somewhere else?" Mustache girl inquired, looking back at the planet.

"Yeah! But lemme grab a new outfit to put on real quick." I informed my companion, as I ran towards my room.

Before I even reached the door, I felt a sharp, jagged pain in my left leg. The stinging hurt so bad, I dropped on the floor and held it, trying not to shout peck at my damaged leg.

Mustache girl quickly walked up to me and stared, disapprovingly.

"Hat Kid, I don't think it would really be a good idea to just go down there again today. We should rest up a bit, you know?" Mustache girl offered, looking down at the leg I was clutching on the floor.

I tried standing up, to act tough when responding.

"I don't need rest! There's Time Pi-AH! Peck! Ouch..." I shouted as my leg began aching from even standing up.

"Yeah, I reckon you should go to bed." Mustache girl told me, helping me stand up.

Mustache girl pulled me up by the hand, before letting me rest one arm on her shoulders, as she did the same to me. We walked (well, I limped) down the hallway before making it to my room.

"Goodnight kid." Mustache girl told me.

"But...ugh, fine. It's not even past my bed time yet..." I complained, limping over to my desk and taking off my hat, putting it down next to my bed.

Mustache girl had to resist a chuckle, placing a hand over her mouth for a moment.

"Pfffttt, what? You have a bed time?" Mustache girl began to giggle, as I sat on my bed and folded my arms.

"It's not funny! I just like to be...organised." I told her, thinking of an excuse.

"Suuuurrrreeeee. Well still, going to sleep on time is better than getting no sleep all the time." Mustache girl admitted, reflecting on her stay in her cave.

Mustache girl stopped for a moment after she turned to the pillow fort, as if hit by a moment of realisation as her cheeky smile became a disappointed frown, before turning back to me.

"Um. Hat Kid? You didn't exactly invite me for a second sleepover. Do you think I should head back t-," Mustache girl muttered, clearly distraught before I cut her off, standing up in bed.

"You can stay! Stay here as long as you want!...I mean, if you want to." I shouted a little too enuthsiatically at first.

I couldn't bare the thought of Mustache girl spending another second in that damp old chunk of rocks! I just wanted her to be safe...and I do like having her around as some company here.

Mustache girl ran up to my bed, holding out a fist, which I proceeded to bump.

"Thanks Hat Kid! I don't know what I'd do without you!" Mustache girl exclaimed excitedly.

"No problem! I'll always be here to help you out!" I giddily replied.

Sleepovers every night! Hooray! However, both of us seemed to realise what I just said, as I saw Mustache girl's face drop and my heart sink.

"Well...you kinda won't...when all this is over." Mustache girl told me, gulping.

I didn't reply. I had no idea what to say. She was right after all, which really brought my mood down. I loved it here, going on adventures, meeting so many new people, doing so many things!...and it was all going to end, sooner or later.

And so, we cleaned our teeth over the sink in the kitchen (I gave Mustache girl a spare toothbrush, avoiding the fact I was pretty sure it belonged to Cooking Cat), talked a little more, before returning to my room so we could head off to bed.

Mustache girl dived into the pillows and I swam after her, getting comfy and lying to the right of her.

"Hat Kid, I think you should use your bed. It's proabbly better to rest your leg and junk." Mustache girl explained, poking her head and arms out from underneath the pillows.

Begrudgingly, I agreed and climbed into bed, closing my eyes, eventually drifting off to sleep.

. . .  
. . .  
. . .

I found myself in a void. A white void. I was all alone. That is, until a Dweller flew beside me.

"Where am I?" I questioned it, concerned.

"You're dreaming kiddo." The Dweller...responded?

"Snatcher?!" I happily shouted, my voice echoing across the vast ocean of nothing.

The Dweller beside me immediately grew larger, becoming purple as it's mask melted away, revealing The Snatcher looming over me.

"Yep! How's it going my BBF? How've you been keeping? I hope you've been doing just...peachy!" The Snatcher inquired, making me run around him in pure glee.

"Oh! I've been doing fantastic! You've missed out on a LOT buddy! But don't worry, I'll fill you in! So basically I went back to Mafia Town and it was super gross and stuff. But it's back to normal now! Then, Mustache girl and I went back to Dead bird studio and it all just, imploded! Kaboom!" I giggled, jumping up and down, filled with energy 

"That's great to hear you've been having fun kid! I've been worried sick about you ever since I left after giving you back all the Time Pieces my silly little minions stole!" Snatcher replied, giggling childishly.

Yeah, this guy clearly wasn't actually Snatcher. Whenever I have a dream about him, I like to pretend he acts like this. He didn't have that menacing, scratchy voice like the actual Snatcher had either, I imagined him sounding more human here, becuase I liked that better. He sounded super fancy too, kinda like how I think he'd sound if he were...still alive.

The realization of this made me hang my head low, walking away.

"What's got you down kiddo?" The 'Snatcher' questioned, shrinking and sitting beside me.

I was walking around slowly, kicking a tin can around the colorless abyss, hands in my pockets.

"It's nothing, really Snatchy. I've just been thinking, that's all." I gave my ghostly buddy a smile, as my lip began to quiver.

That quivering eventually transformed into tears streaming down my face, as I began wiping my eyes and sniffling.

"What have you been thinking about kiddo? You can tell me. We are best buds after all." Snatcher comforted me, growing larger again and letting me sit on his lap.

After wiping my eyes some more, still not done crying in my dream, I began to stutter out some words.

"W-well, I-it's just that I-we...M-mustache girl. She's-she's, I mean, I really care ab-bout her Snatcher. Once I l-leave, she'll be all al-lone. And once we get all the T-time Pieces back, I'll have to l-l-leave! I can't st-stay here...r-right? S-so I just want her t-to be ok. Th-there's so much I want to t-tell her. So much I wanna do! B-but...I-...we...I really, really, I just-...hey Snatcher?" I barley got out, through tears rolling down my face.

"What's up kid? What do you want to tell me?" Snatcher asked, for some reason deepening his voice slightly.

"P-please. Take care of Mustache girl when I'm gone." I pleaded the spirit looking up at his smiling face.

"Oh I'll take care of her kiddo. Make sure she comes to my forest tomorrow." Snatcher ordered, deepening his voice more, looking down at me.

"R-really? I care about her Snatcher, you know? P-please." I begged him.

"Oh don't worry kiddo. I have a couple graves with your names on it. They'll look great from my tree stump." Snatcher ominously told me, his smile fading from his face.

Snatcher grabbed me by the arms, holding me in front of his face. This isn't how these dreams usually go!

"It's going to be so much fun seeing you both suffer for daring to enter my domain. Oh don't worry kiddo. I'll make sure that other girl's head pops off right in front of you. Oh, this is going to be thrilling!" Snatcher excitedly shouted in my face, bringing me closer to his mouth as it opened wider.

"No! Stop it! Stop it Snatcher! Stop it! Stop!" I shrieked.

He threw me into his mouth, as I was consumed by a dark abyss.

"I'm broken. And you can't fix me!...And it'll be so much fun breaking that kid with the mustache, but most importantly... it's going to be heaven breaking you..." Snatcher's voice boomed as I lost sight of myself in the darkness.

. . .

"AH! NO! I DON'T WANT THIS!" I screamed, sitting up in bed looking around my room.

That's...never happened before. I usually dream stuff like that with Snatcher to help myself relax. This...did the exact opposite.

"Hat Kid? Are you alright? What's wrong?" Mustache girl questioned.

I looked over to the pillow fort, noticing she wasn't there. Instead, Mustache girl sat in front of my window above the fort like the night prior.

I threw myself out of the bed, running over to Mustache girl, with tears in my eyes and no longer caring about the terrible feeling in my leg. I grabbed Mustache girl, holding her tight in my arms, sobbing into her shoulder. Mustache girl didn't do the same immediately out of surprise, instead she patted me on the back before she finally returned the hug.

"M-mustache girl...it was j-just a nightmare...I'm glad you're ok. I-, don't want to let go..." I continued to cry, holding her even tighter.

"Ha-hat? Wha-, I-...thanks, so much..." Mustache girl barley got out, as I noticed her face going redder than ever.

We sat there, holding each other for a few minutes. I'd protect her. I knew I wouldn't forgive myself if anything bad happened to her. Finally, we let go, as I saw Mustache girl completely speechless. A huge, uncontrollable grin was on her shining face, as I felt myself smiling too. She was ok...she was ok...she was alive...

I decided that night to sleep in the pillow fort again. I needed the comfort. I doubted I'd be able to sleep without it. Mustache girl had no idea how much I appriacted her being there, when the whole world was against me.

I woke up the next morning face down in the pillow fort. Groggily, I used my left arm to push myself up, as I knew where my right was. Mustache girl was once again holding it close to her chest, as she lay facing up at the ceiling. I smiled at her, as she was still sound asleep, grasping my arm tightly. It seemed like she needed me to get some sleep, just as much as I needed her. So, I once again let her keep my arm for a little bit. She looked so peaceful sleeping there, so relaxed and so calm. Which is pretty unlike Mustache girl when she was awake. Still, I unfortunately couldn't sit there forever. So I carefully removed my arm from her tight grip, trying not to wake her.

I knew what I wanted to do today. What I needed to do. And I couldn't bring Mustache girl. I couldn't risk it. I know he gave me back my Time Pieces, but I had to prepare for the worst case scenario, which is why I made sure to bring some blue paint from my closet, placing it under my hat. After taking a deep breath, I flew the ship down to Subcon Forest...

Anyone can change for the better...I hope...

All I needed was one Time Piece. Just the one. In and out, and I'll be back on the ship before Mustache girl even woke up.

I landed on the ground in front of The Snatcher's hollowed out tree, a heavy atmosphere hitting me immediately. As it always did when I came to Subcon Forest. It was a feeling of unease, dread and the purest form of apprehension. I made sure to pull out my umbrella immediately, since I never knew what to expect when entering the forgotten forest that was Subcon.

I quickly turned around, hoping to get this over with, towards the tree. My ship's radar only detected a single Time Piece in the area after all, so this shouldn't be too hard. I thought it was proabbly taken by a stray Dweller for whatever reason. I also wanted to figure out exactly why Snatcher would return my Time Pieces, only to leave me alone...it was perplexing, to say the least. And I needed answers.

Looking at the chair in the tree, I noticed a complete lack of my ghostly (hopefully soon to be) friend. He usually spends all his time there, where was he? Last night still fresh in my mind, I walked up to the chair and searched the well lit tree. I shivered, sitting down on the chair, as I looked for any tombstones viewable from there. There were some, but thankfully none had had my name or Mustache girl's engraved on them...come to think of it, what IS her name? I figured I'd just ask her that once I got back, still hoping this wouldn't take too long, since I was already getting the creeps.

I got up from the chair and walked down the path to the village, my eyes darting from tree to tree as I held my umbrella out in front of myself. I wasn't scared or anything, seriously, I usually come here to just mess around climbing trees, but now felt...certainly different...and not a good kind of different.

Finally, after spying no life or un-life anywhere here, I took note of a Snatcher Minion walking in the opposite direction to me. I ran over to it, as my pace slowed as that sharp pain in my leg continued to eat away at me.

"Hey! Do you know where The Snatcher is?" I asked it, rubbing my leg.

"Yeah! The boss has been waiting for you kid! He's just past the village, where you fought that possessed toilet thing! That match was the best kid! Definitely the most entertained I've been this afterlife!" The Minion excitedly informed me.

I thanked it for it's help, before jogging over to the location...I should've asked it for some health pons. Once I made it to the Subcon village, I decided to look around for some. Only finding one by some graves. It wasn't enough, but it would have to do. At least I felt a little less weak.

I saw Snatcher the second I exited the village, his face gleaming through the fog, expectantly. After using my Hookshot to get over there, I jumped into the arena, a smile glued to my face. He was here after all! Hooray!

I walked up to the spirit, as Snatcher rubbed his hands together (like he usually did), floating inside that green goo in the centre of the circular stone platform.

"Hey there kiddo! DIDJA MISS ME? Admit it, you missed me!" The Snatcher laughed, as he pointed in my direction and grinned.

"You bet! I have so much I want to ask you!" I told Snatcher, jumping up and grabbing his spectral claw.

"Yeah, I'm sure you do. In fact, there's something I'd like you to know too kid! I'm sure you'll be very...interested." Snatcher spoke forebodingly, shaking me off of his hand as I landed back on the ground.

"What is it?" I questioned, unsuspectingly as I got back up.

"How many Time Pieces did I leave you?" Snatcher questioned, much to my confusion.

He knows how many he left me...right? He is the one who gave me enough Time Pieces to power the ship in the first place.

"Ummm, fifty two, wasn't it? Yeah, that's it!" I exclaimed, remembering correctly.

"And how many did my minions take from you kiddo?" He questioned again, the grin growing larger.

"Fifty...two? Right?" I replied, struggling to remember.

Snatcher threw his arm into the green liquid, pulling out a Time Piece which he held in front of me, his smile literally stretching from ear to ear...if he had ears. That's when I remembered what the minion said that day, as all color drained from my face.

"You took fifty three!" I shouted, my voice a mixture of frustration, confusion and disappointment.

"Clever girl! Yet, so naive." Snatcher insulted me.

"Hey! Give that back!" I shouted, reaching for it.

Snatcher immediately pulled away the Time Piece, holding the object above his head.

"Sorry kiddo. This one is all for me now!" Snatcher laughed once again.

This, only left me more confused.

"This...doesn't make any sense! Why did you give back some Time Pieces, if you were gonna keep one for yourself? Why not either take them all, or give them all back?" I interrogated.

Snatcher's grin faded, becoming a look of confusion.

"Well there's the thing. I have no idea. I guess it's the same reason I stayed on your spaceship. I felt like it's what I should've done...for, some reason." Snatcher scratched his head.

"Aww, you've got attached to me, haven't you?" I giggled.

"HAH! ME? THE SNATCHER? RULER OF SUBCON FOREST, 'ATTACHED' TO SOMEONE?! AHAHAHAHAHAHHA! Kiddo, I think you forgot who you're talking to! I'm literally heartless! It is physically impossible for me to feel ANYTHING!...Which is exactly why I kept this last Time Piece. I'm going back kid, back to a better Subcon. Before everyone here met their icy end, before...she, became so obsessive. And, before I died. Kid, I'm tired of feeling nothing all the time. I want to feel something, ANYTHING again! The only thing that's ever made me come close to that is through killing people like you." Snatcher explained.

"...Have you ever tried being nice?" I questioned him.

"Is that meant to be an insult or what? Kiddo, why should I try, when I could go back right now and start feeling again? I want to feel that warm summer breeze against my skin, heck, I want skin! I want my hair! I want a real face again! I want my kingdom! My people! I want...her back. I'm making sure I never buy flowers again..." Snatcher muttered that last part.

"Then...why haven't you already?" I questioned the spectre.

"Because kid. You know how the whole 'vengeful spirit' deal goes! I want to do one last thing before I break this Time Piece. I want...to break you." Snatcher told me, grinning once again.

I noticed something out of the corner of my eye that moment. Looking down, I saw a large pink ring formed on the floor. Knowing exactly what this meant, I dived out of the way, as the blast that emerged from it only just missed my feet. Once I got up off the ground, I readied my umbrella, still hesitantly.

"Snatcher no! You don't have to do this to feel alive again! Please!" I begged him.

"Sorry kiddo. That's not how I like to do buisness. Pleading only gets you so far you know! It's time I do what I do best. So...are you ready, kid? TOO BAD!" Snatcher maniacally laughed.

Another three pink rings all emerged on different sides of the arena, with one once again under me. I wasn't quick enough this time, as the multi-colored blast shot through my whole body, making me fall to the floor. Before I could steady myself, The Snatcher snapped two of his fingers together, making the Time Piece vanish.

Hordes of minions appeared on the battlefield, as they began running around the area in circles. I was barley able to avoid them, with one almost hitting my foot. I noticed the area around the arena become purple and yellow once the attack ended, just like every other Time I'd fought The Snatcher, as minions disappeared from the battlefield to watch on the side lines. Here we go again...

Equipping the sprint hat, I began out running the black laser beams quickly emerging from the ground. At least I had hats this time around. Not taking a break between attacks, Snatcher summoned one thousand glass bottles above his head, as they rained down on me.

I used my Time Stop hat to hastily move around the beakers, slowly seeing Snatcher's frustration grow. He lept into the ground, as a swarm of black dopplegängers teleported in front of me, surrounding me.

"This is still how you look!" They laughed.

"Yeah! And you still smell!" One towards the back of the horde giggled.

They all ran at me, as I swatted them back with my umbrella, trying to avoid them touching me. Once their strategy proved to be ineffective, they disappeared, as Snatcher emerged from the ground.

Another thousand potions were sent coming my way, they fell quicker this time, smashing onto the ground and exploding. Until only one was left on the floor, which I ran towards, noticing it was...green? Still, I threw it at The Snatcher, causing him to laugh as the green potion evaporated after landing on him.

"Sorry kiddo, that's not gonna work this time. Now that I've traded out my blue potions, I AM invincible! What? You don't like that? TOO BAD! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAA!" Snatcher laughed towards the sky, as his minions all did the same in the audience.

Frustrated, I took off my hat, revealing a bucket of blue paint. Before he could realise what was going on, I threw the bucket at him, covering him in a blue substance that wasn't coming off.

"Heh, blueberry pie. That color really suits you." I giggled.

"Oh you think this is FUNNY? This can't count...right? Surely this doesn't count! Whatever, IT'S TIME I KILLED YOU ALREADY! SAY GOODBYE, KIDDO!" Snatcher roared, as he leaned forward and grabbed my hat, placing it on his head.

But instead of attacking...he held out his right hand, as the Time Piece appeared from a cloud of purple smoke. Having no idea what was going on, I watched in awe and horror as The Snatcher threw the Time Piece...into his mouth? Causing a faint blue glow to emmit from his chest, as Snatcher laughed to himself once again.

"OH YES! OOOHHH THIS FEELING! I FEEL...POWER! IT'S TIME TO DIE! BECAUSE YOU, HAVE A DEATH WISH!" Snatcher boomed, laughing still.

Suddenly, the whole room went dark, with only Snatcher's face visible. Ok, I just need to pay attention to his eyes. Like last time. Easy.

Unexpectedly, both of The Snatcher's eyes closed, revealing six more yellow holes sprout from his face, as they all blinked too.

"What the-," I began, before being cut off by eight Snatchers all lunging at me in the dark, each one landing their hit.

The room became bright just as quickly as it went dark, with Snatcher being back to having two eyes, with the seven clones all gone. That wasn't the only new trick he had up his sleeve though, as he jumped into the green pit bellow himself. Instead of the usual shadow puppet versions of myself appearing though, this time they all had demon-like, clawed wings, as they flew towards me.

"This isn't how you look! You look worse!" They teased.

"You smell worse too!" Another laughed.

"You jerk!" Yet another shouted.

The flying versions of myself all dived towards the ground, spreading out their wings in hopes of hitting me. I ran away from them, compelety terrified. The clones of myself all flew faster than I could run, as I noticed them catching up to me. So, I turned around and dived underneath them. The flying versions of me all crashed into the floor, before disappearing. Causing Snatcher to re-emerge from the ground, only to go back under.

He came out of the ground on another part of the battlefield, causing two shockwaves to appear. I jumped over the first, expecting it, yet getting tripped up by the second, causing me to get hit by another pair Snatcher created after re-emerging yet again.

I barely jumped over two more pairs, narrowly avoiding them as I ran towards The Snatcher. Before I could get to him, he dived into the ground below. But I didn't let him get away, as I wacked him on the head with my umbrella before he fully submerged himself.

The grin on his face was quickly replaced with a scowl, before returning just as quickly upon going back to the centre of the arena. The minions all disappeared from the audience again, running in circles around the battlefield. Snatcher dived into the pit, as winged versions of myself began swooping down to me, all while lasers that created shockwaves began shooting up at me. It was utter chaos.

I jumped over the minions, yet I jumped too high. A duplicate of myself to flew into me, knocking me on the ground. A pink circle spawned around as I lay on the floor. I immediately rolled out of it...not taking into account the shockwaves it created, as well as the group of minions that were about to slam into me. I jumped over them both, but landed on yet another shockwave. That's when I-...I felt...so weak...

Yet I continued on. I had to. If I didn't, I knew without a doubt I wouldn't survive. Snatcher came up from the green pit, yet his shadow puppets continued to lunge at me instead of disappearing like they usually do. Snatcher began throwing two thousand of his green potions. This was...too much...

I was narrowly able to avoid the potions and the flying shadow puppets (ignoring their mean insults), jumping over the shockwaves and the minions in the process. That is, until I lost track of the pink circles on the ground, before realising one was under me once a giant laser was sent through my entire body. It-...it hurt...so...much...

I fell to the floor, barely standing up. Shakily getting to my feet as I held out my umbrella...one more hit...and I don't know if I'd survive.

"TOO EASY KID? MAYBE IT'S TIME WE VISITED SOME SOME PALS, EH?" Snatcher shouted.

He made a fake purple Time Piece appear in the palm of his hand and smashed it onto the ground. They didn't have the ability to rewind time, since they were just objects created by The Snatcher for the sake of his advanced contracts...but they certainly had the ability to make my life worse, as I was consumed by a black void.

"MEGA CHAAAAARGED!" The Mafia Boss shouted, as the Mafia and The Snatcher in the audience cheered him on.

The Mafia Boss had his old body back, and was on stage with me, glowing a rainbow color...uh oh. This Death Wish. I've beat it without getting hit before...then I can beat it again!...I hope.

The Mafia Boss launched various shots of electricity at me, which I went over and under, slowly jumping towards him before smacking him with my umbrella!

"BOW DOWN!" He shouted, as the boss span towards me.

I jumped over the man once, then twice, then three times, then a fourth, before he finally turned blue, leaving him open to attack! Which I took advantage of by diving at him, getting up, and wacking him again!

"MAFIAAAAAA BALL!" The Mafia Boss screamed, as the audience all formed a giant human ball, jumping on stage.

I knew exactly how this song and dance went. I climbed into an opening of the ball as it rolled towards me and rode to the top. Hitting the Mafia Boss!

"IT CAN'T BE!" He shrieked, as the ball collapsed, as the Mafia jumped back to their seats.

I was launched off of the ball, and into the audience heading right for the (still blue) Snatcher. I homing attacked him, sending him flying upwards. Snatcher stopped in mid-air, shaking his head in frustration. He threw yet another fake purple Time Piece onto the ground. The black void, taking over the whole room.

"TICK TOK! THE BOMB'S GONNA BLOW!" The Conductor laughed as he jumped back on stage.

"CATCH ME IF YOU CAN DARLING!" DJ Grooves teased, jumping after him.

My back felt heavy, as I saw a bomb strapped to it! The bomb from the Train Ru-...that's when I realised what The Snatcher was doing. He was making me re-do Death wishes to hopefully get me killed. Snatcher never struck me as a very wasteful person, so I guess he was hoping a couple advanced contracts would get the job done, even if they hadn't before. I searched for him in the audience, yet saw no sign of the ghost. Only seeing the Express Owls and Moon Penguins cheer on their favourite director on stage.

The pair jumped off stage as the lights cut out, with swarms of knifes all shooting at me. I ran past five of them, jumping over the next five, before diving out of the way of the next three.

"SLICE OF LIFE!" The Conductor chuckled.

"CHECK THIS OUT!" DJ Grooves shouted.

I dodged their knives, diving to the left. Getting back on my feet in a hurry, unfortunatley lacking my Time Stop hat or Brewing hat to hit them more easily. Still, I was able to homing attack DJ Grooves and bounce onto The Conductor, causing them to jump back on stage.

"YOU'VE DONE IT NOW!" The Conductor shouted.

"HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO ME DARLING!?" DJ Grooves roared.

I saw The Express band from DJ Grooves', "The Big Parade," movie, run at me. Swinging knifes after me as I knew I could no longer stand still.

They swung their knives rapidly, all trying to quite literally backstab me. Then, stage lights began falling from the ceiling, as The Conductor and Grooves jumped at me.

"GIVE, ME, THAT!" The Conductor ordered.

"HAH! WHA! YAH!" DJ Grooves shouted (I'm guessing he had some strange affinity for karate movies, but now wasn't the time to think of that).

I went in between all of the falling lights, while still running ahead of the Express band, before finally reaching DJ Grooves and The Conductor, hitting them both with a homing attack.

"PECK NEEEEEEEECK!" The Conductor screamed after hitting him in the face.

"I HATE YOU, DARLINNNNNN'!" DJ Grooves shrieked.

The Express band...were still there though. Even despite the directors being defeated. What was going on? Did I need to find Snatcher?

"HERE WE GO! AHAHAHAHAHHAA!" I heard The Snatcher shout from the ceiling.

I saw him perched on a gold disco ball, as it crashed down onto the floor. Jumping over the shock wave, I ran up to him. Hitting him with my umbrella once again.

Once again, he retreated into the air. Then, pulling out a fake purple Time Piece as he smashed it onto the ground.

The black void consumed me, as wondered where I'd end up next.

"ENOUGH!" Mustache girl shrieked.

I was suddenly assaulted by color, as the rainbow-like area and rainbow covered girl stood in front of me. Oh no...I didn't want to fight Mustache girl again. The thought of it alone just made me feel sick to my very core. Looking around, I saw Mustache girl shoot a pink laser at the audience, with Snatcher sitting comfortably above it in the air.

"Mustache girl! Please don't! Attack Snatcher! We're a team remember!?" I ran up to her, pleading her to help me.

I didn't want to hurt her...not after everything we've been through...

"She can't hear you kid! What's with all that talk about teams anyway? I thought you hated this girl! Ohhhh this is so much fun! Don't you agree kiddo?" Snatcher laughed.

"SHUT UP!" I screamed up at him.

It looked like I'd have to fight Mustache girl again...all without getting hit.

Mustache girl dropped to the floor, spawning a shockwave, as well as numerous black lines on the floor which I got away from as quickly as possible. It hurt doing this, it hurt attacking any of my friends, but Mustache girl was...different, for some reason. It hurt more. I didn't quite know why. Maybe it was because she saved me from The Mafia Boss and the Time Paradox? Maybe because she was a girl my age? Or some other reason?

Still, I begrudgingly homing attacked her while she was in mid air. She wasn't as emotionally torn as I was, not this version of her anyway. Since this Mustache girl quickly began teleporting away, shooting lasers around herself as purple Time Pieces fell from the sky. I hit her with another homing attack, praying that would be the last one...it wasn't.

Mustache girl began jumping around again, as I narrowly avoided falling Time Pieces, Time Pieces on the floor that shot lasers and shockwaves caused by Mustache girl herself. My eyes kept darting left and right, up and down, in every which way attempting to keep track of everything. Finally, I managed to gather the emotional will power to hit her with one final homing attack, which landed.

"AH!" She screamed.

We were taken to Mustache girl's castle in a flash of white light, as her body lay down on the floor, unable to get up. A ball of purple Time Pieces gathered in front of the two of us, but I didn't care for that.

"Mustache girl! I'm sorry! I didn't mean-I didn't mean to, do this!" I apologised, grabbing her body by her shoulders, trying to shake her awake to no avail.

I felt something inside me shatter at that moment, I felt like I wanted to cry. How could I do this to her again? After all she's helped me through? After she's stayed with me on my ship, hanging out with me, talking to me, being there for me!

That's when it hit me. That's when I realised why I felt so awful about what I'd done. I couldn't believe it. And I certainly didn't expect it. But, it made too much sense. I think, I think I-

"HEY KID! I THOUGHT WE WERE FIGHTING HERE? Stop crying about some mindless creation of my contracts and let me kill you!" Snatcher ordered me.

He was above me, floating down. He teleported to the ball of fake Time Pieces and threw it onto the the floor, causing the room to go black, as Mustache girl faded out of my arms.

We were teleported back to Subcon Forest. Back to the arena. And I was furious Snatcher put me through that again. I didn't care that could only take one more hit anymore, because I was determined to beat this guy! I was gonna defeat Snatcher! Then, I'd tell him to never do that to me again and convince him to come back with me to my ship...and hopefully be a good person...if that was even possible, because...I wasn't sure anymore.

Snatcher stood in the middle of the arena, as he began throwing three thousand green potions. It felt like they covered every inch of the arena, as the potions all rained down towards me. I dived out of the way of shards of glass, explosions, waiting for this to end. It seemed like every direction was coated in green bottles flying at me, while I dodged and weaved through projectile after projectile.

The second the attack ended, the room went black, as Snatcher grew eight eyes once again and blinked all of them. Knowing what I had to do, I swung my weapon at all eight of the Snatcher clones that circled me, spinning around as I held my umbrella in front of me to do so.

The room became bright once again, lit by the purple and yellow glow aura around the arena. Snatcher took his place in the middle, only to begin quickly teleporting to another part of the arena, creating shock waves, an action which he repeated. I jumped over the pairs of shockwaves that were sent my way. Jump. Land. Jump. Land. Jump. Land. That's what I thought to myself, as I found a pattern for avoiding the attack. Finally, once Snatcher teleported close enough, I smacked him with my umbrella! Snatcher didn't react this time though. Instead, the room went...completely black.

The area was desolate. The area was silent. I was taken to an endless void, with only Snatcher visible in the distance, coughing and wheezing.

"I feel...so weak...please...have mercy..." Snatcher pleaded, clutching his chest and facing the ground.

I ran towards him, trying to remain stern. I knew he was going to try and scare me like the first time we fought, and I was ready for it.

"I know all your tricks Snatcher! Just give up already! Come back to the ship! I'll forgive you, I promise!" I shouted, continuing to walk towards him.

Well, it would definetly be harder to forgive him now. But still, anyone deserves to be forgiven. I've seen brief glimpses of a better person inside Snatcher while he stayed on my ship those past months. They were brief. Very, very, very small glimpses. But that's all I needed. The fact he wished to bring his kingdom back to life showed me that he cared for his people, at least a little. Anyone can change for the better, so why not him?

"Oh kid this isn't a trick...you beat me real good there! Looks like I've been rubbing off on you, you're a...tough kid, you know that? And that's a real shame." Snatcher told me.

I had finally gotten close to him. I stood below the ghost, looking up at his face, which lacked his distinct smile. The Time Piece was no longer inside his 'body' either, as it lay in his outstreched hand, above him.

"Kiddo...I've been thinking about that whole changing thing...and you're right kiddo. I should change..." Snatcher admitted, still coughing.

Personally, I was over the moon at this statement.

"Really buddy? That's great! I can't believe it! I can't wait for us to go back up to my ship and do a bunch of cool stuff together Snatchy!" I beamed at him.

Snatcher looked up at me, standing up straight, his grin returning as he lowered the hand which held the Time Piece.

"Well, there's one thing about that kiddo. I want to change...but you can't help me become what I want..." Snatcher sighed, as I grabbed his other hand, patting it.

"Don't be silly! I'm your best friend, of course I can help!" I reminded him.

"No kiddo...you can't help...BUT THIS CAN!" Snatcher laughed as he pulled his arm back, about to throw the Time Piece.

I immediately realised what he was going to do, but I didn't have my hats to help me catch the Time Piece! So, I dived. I dived on the ground hoping to catch it...but I was too slow.

I dived onto the ground, praying I would grab it in my arms...yet the Time Piece smashed, right onto my head.

"AH!" I screamed, as the force of the hit making my head spin.

I got up off the ground, attempting to steady myself, yet began spinning around before collapsing back onto the floor. Was that hit...was enough to...? No, it couldn't be...but, why was the world getting darker...why was I feeling weaker...was was my strength being sapped from my body...why did I feel...so cold? 

I could barley make out Snatcher's face, staring at me in...sh-shock? This was...what he wanted...r-right? And w-why was he st-still here? He should've gone b-back in t-time by now...unless the Time Piece...hitting m-me...did s-something else...instead...My eyes began to close, forcefully, feeling heavier than ever...but not before glimpsing two shapes in the darkness. Snatcher's glowing, yellow face. And a purple, circular orb, floating above my head, where the Time Piece hit me. It had...a pattern on it...and was...gl-glowing...I wanted t-to look at it more...but I-...I felt m-my eyes close... and...regret...why did I ever think Snatcher could ch-change?...He was right...I couldn't f-fix him...nothing can...and this is what I got f-for ever believing he could...


	7. Hat Kid Time Rift

____________________

...Hat Kid lay on the floor, motionless in front of me, surrounded by shattered glass from the Time Piece. A purple orb floated above her head, where the Time Peice hit her. Where I threw it at her. Did I finally do it? Did I really just pull the trigger after all these months I spent in her ship? Sure, I had been trying to kill her during my whole time there, but the kid still talked to me...and I ignored her most of the time. But, sometimes I did respond. Sometimes we did actually have a conversation. But it all lead up to this moment! The moment where finally, I had won. She...was dead.

At least, I thought she was. Floating over to her, I lifted her body up off the ground, which had gone limb. Her eyes were closed, as all emotion had been removed from her face that was so full of life just moments ago. I couldn't tell if she was breathing or not, it had been a long time since I'd done it after all. I placed her down on the floor, watching for any movement.

...Something was wrong though. Usually, whenever I kill a contractor, I get this sensation of excitement! It was thrilling, and the only feeling that made my existence worth it...but that wasn't coming here. Seeing the kid like this made me feel...nothing. That's definitely not something I expected. I expected the thrill to be greater than ever! But...there was nothing as I saw her there, unmoving.

Still, that didn't matter now. Why would it? She was just some random kid after all...a random kid I'd spent the last few months living with on that spaceship of her's...but a contractor is a contractor! That's just part of the job description! Is what I told myself, as I floated over to the strange circular object above the child.

It was glowing a strange purple color, as a spiral pattern swirled inside of the object. This was the spot where I broke the Time Piece, so I thought that I'd just need to go through this portal-like structure and I'd go back to the old Subcon. I'd never broken one of these things before, so I'm not exactly an expert on what makes them tick.

I turned around, taking one last look at Hat Kid, who's arms were spread out on the black floor, as she remained motionless.

"Goodbye kiddo." I told her, smiling.

Finally...I'd come back. Finally, I would go back. Back to the old forest. No more nooses! No more minions! No more ice everywhere! No more Dwellers! No more swamp! No more...whatever monster Vanessa had become. And no more Snatcher! Oh, how I've dreamed of this day! It'll be my kingdom spectacular kingdom, my loyal subjects, it'll be nice and warm, I'll have my beautiful princess back! And, I'd finally be alive again. No more Snatcher. I reached out towards the purple orb, touching it.

Strangely, I felt my whole being stop. I couldn't move, as if I was frozen somehow. In fact, it seemed like whole world was paused for a moment. Yet, I regained movement as my vision became a blur of white light and static (like I'd seen on the kid's TV), which errupted from the purple orb. It consumed me, as closed my eyes and held out my arms, embracing it.

I expected to feel something in that moment. The breeze of a calm wind, the chirping of birds or even someone to come up to me and ask what the heck I was doing...But nothing ever came.

Curious, I opened one eye, wondering what had happened. That orb was supposed to take me back in time? Right? Had I done something wrong? Strangely though, I found myself back on Hat Kid's spaceship, in her room. The room was dark, with the only light coming from space outside the window and my candles which littered the right side of the pillow pit. My book, "How to kill kids," lay in the corner of the room, open. The only major difference in the room was the large metal container which lay in front of me. It had a clock pattern on top of it, with some kind of valve in the centre.

Looking down, I didn't see legs. My old legs. Instead, I saw the all too familiar sight of my ghostly body. Still the same. I let out a sigh at this, realising that the Time Piece I stole wasn't enough to bring me back, apparently. So that only left me with one question...what was going on? The kid didn't keep a metal container in her pillows, and I brought my book and candles back with me when I left the ship. So what was going on?

I decided to float (unfortnatley not wallk) over to the metal container to inspect it further, when the hatch on it opened on it's own. More curious still, I bent over the edge of the container seeing nothing but a black void below it. I decided it would be best not to go down there. So I flew over to my book, wondering what it was doing here. I picked it up off the ground with a look of confusion. It was turned to a page...that didn't exist. The words, "Chapter 101," were wrote on it. The contents of the chapter only consisted of one picture...a Time Piece.

This made me feel slightly uneasy, before quickly regaining my composure. It was just a weird random detail. Nothing more. So, I slammed the book shut and placed back down. I was about to float away from it when I noticed something sticking out of the pages. Something glowing. I pulled at the glowing paper, revealing it to be some kind of...page? Picture? I couldn't tell. It was just a mass of colors on a glowing piece of paper. Confused, I decided to save it for later, in case I found some value in it, somehow.

I snapped my fingers to summon a bag to store the page in...yet no bag came.

"What?" I asked myself, confused.

I snapped them again. Nothing. I tried a third time. Still nothing. I guessed I was feeling pretty weak after that fight, so went to look for a bag of some sort in the kid's closet. Opening it, I found nothing but a set of three skeletons, which fell onto the floor as their bones rattled together.

"Oh very funny kiddo." I rolled my eyes.

Shutting the closet, I realised I should proabbly just hold the page. So I did just that, as I flew over to the door which lead to the rest of the ship...which wasn't automatically opening like it usually did. It wasn't an issue though, as I just decided to go through the door by phasing through it. The ability to pass through objects is something you learn to control very early on when you die, at least in my experience. So, I flew headfirst towards the door and-

"What the?" I questioned, as I slammed my head against the door.

I backed away from it, rubbing my head. What was going on? I decided to try and pass my arm through the door...Nothing. It just...touched it. Did I have...no power here? How? And what even was this place? Sure it looked like the kid's ship, but it acted in strange ways her ship simply didn't. I looked back into the room, searching for an exit as my confusion only grew. The only place I hadn't checked was the bottom of that metal capsule. So, I decided to float into it, as a black tunnel greeted me, which lead down.

Yet, as I went further and further down, my vision became filled with what looked like static, before that was all I could see! Even when I closed my eyes I couldn't escape it! I had enough of this, so I just flew up, hoping to escape the tunnel. Yet that's when I felt my head slam against something. Opening my eyes...I saw a purple tree, stretching far up into the sky. It appeared as if I was in...Subcon Forest? 

Well, it wasn't the Subcon I wanted to go black to, but it was still home...well, it would've been, if it wasn't for the fact that this was only a small section of the forest, seemingly floating in the air!

It appeared to be parts of the path that lead to the village, where I usually place my traps. Speaking of which, there appeared to a trap that had captured someone. A white sheet hung onto a tree, as someone struggled from inside. There also appeared to be yellow glowing pons surrounding area. Wait a minute...where have I seen those before? One was sitting on top of some leaves on a tree, so I flew over to it, skipping what would've been some kind of platforming challenge to get to it. 

I picked it up, inspecting the item. The pon was golden, and seemed to contain some kind of...crown? Wait a minute. These are RIFT pons! Like from my Rift Collapse Death Wishes! That meant...

"I'm in a...time rift?" I said to no one but myself, as I scratched my head.

Suddenly I stopped, slapping my forehead. Of course! That orb was what lead to a Time Rift! And that page was a storybook page! Wait. What story would it tell? Since, it didn't actually mean anything right now. Maybe I have to collect them all? Or just make it to the end? Wait. Would the end have a Time Piece?

That's when it clicked. Of course it would! Then, I'd use that Time Piece to get back to the old Subcon! Not this place. So, what did the kid use to advance in these things? I'm pretty sure it's those metal containers. I searched around the section of the forest, before spying one under the trap that had sprung. I excitedly flew over to it, waiting for it to open...it didn't. Instead, the number floating above it went down from three, to two.

"Hmm...looks like I've got some collecting to do eh? Maybe I should've asked the kid for pointers before I...did that." I spoke, not wanting to say she died, simply becuase I still couldn't believe it.

I placed down the Pon next to the metal container, so I wouldn't have to hold it and the page, before I flew up, to see who was in the trap.

Whoever it was, they were certainly squirming around in there quite a bit! As the white sheet was repeatedly being kicked and punched from the inside. I flew above the sheet, leaning over it to see who was caught in my traps, as the grin vanished from my face...it was her.

"Hey kiddo. What's up? I've got to say, I'm sure you're DYING to get out of there. But, I've already helped you with that." I boasted to the child.

Yet she didn't respond, as her attention was completely fixated on breaking out of the trap. Looks like I wasn't loud enough.

"HEY KID! WHAT'S UP?" I shouted, letting out a laugh.

...Yet there was no response.

"Oh forget it. Just get out of there already." I sighed.

I flew up, slashing my claws at the rope which held the trap to the tree. The rope was cut...Yet the trap didn't fall to the floor. Instead, it just hung there, suspended in mid air?

"Ok, something tells me this place doesn't exactly work normally. Huh kiddo?" I asked Hat Kid...Yet there was no response.

I looked at the inside of my trap again, seeing her still trying to break free. There was also a glowing storybook page floating above her now. I reached my hand in, picking it up. The page looked similar to the first. Just random splotches of color on a piece of paper. I realised I should proabbly collect them all, since they did apparently become actual stories after the rift is over...at least that's how I thought it worked. Again, should've talked to the kid about this more.

So, after searching around a little more I found the two extra Rift Pons I needed, as well as an extra storybook page. As I floated over to the capsule with the clock pattern which would likely lead me to the next area, as it had done here, I stopped.

I decided to take one last look at her, Hat Kid. So, I floated above the capsule, looking into my trap, studying her. It was crazy to think that she was dead now, yet also in front of me, trying to escape a trap. I remember that day well, when we first met, and how fun it was haunting that poor soul with my contracts. And when I tried to murder her for the first time? Oh, those were the days...Yet as I was about to leave her, I felt a new feeling.

I got excited, wondering if this was going to be that incredible rush I thought I'd get for killing her!...But it wasn't...it felt like...pity. I had no idea why I felt that, but, it was definelty there. Even if it was only a tiny feeling in the back of my mind.

"This place just keeps getting stranger." I whispered to myself, as I flew away from the kid as the feeling subsided.

The hatch on the metal container opened, leading me to my next destination! With three pages in hand, I flew down there, letting the static consume me.

Once it dissipated, I found myself in a very cramped space. There were toys lying around, pillows covering the ceiling and a book which lay open in front of me. Turning around, I noticed the hatch was already open, which I raised an eyebrow at. I wasn't done inspecting the area for pages yet though, so I decided to take a look around for some inside various magazines which lay on the floor, with no success.

I decided to leave the open book until last, since that proabbly contained some important information...proabbly. I picked it up and placed it on my lap, placing one hand on the open page and another on the cover, which I read.

"My diary!" The title read, with a small smiley face drawn next to it.

"A diary? Who keeps a-...oh right...this proabbly belongs to the kid." I said to myself, as that strange feeling pity returned.

I never felt anything! Well, most of the time, so why was I feeling that emotion specifically? I wondered, as I began to read.

"Day 100  
So I decided to go back inside some Time Rifts today because I was sooooooo bored. I hadn't collected all storybook pages from every rfit yet, so I just thought I'd do it. Because I might as well, since I'm kinda stuck here. But...then I found this...I'm gonna try my very best to help Snatcher from now on! I thought was just some mean old guy who broke into my ship for no reason, but now? I think he just needs a friend. Especially after this. But I lost the first page on the way back to my ship! That really stinks." I read, with a look of confusion on my face.

Was this the day she was convinced to try and help me change? Why? What could've possi-

I choked on my thoughts as I turned the page. There were pictures...of Vanessa and I. But not how we are now. They were of the old Queen Vanessa. With her beautiful green dress, stunning, long blonde hair and the adorable smile of her's, which was depicted in these drawings.

And then there was me. With my brown hair, my skin, my crown, my face, my legs, my...everything. These were pictures of Vanessa and I...when I was alive, and before she became that monster she is now.

The picture was of the two of us, holding hands as a bunch of adorable little hearts surrounded us. That picture pulled at my non-existent heart strings. As smiled genuinely and longingly at that picture as I pulled it off the paper it was glued to, deciding to keep it.

The kid knew what I looked like before I died. That's why she wanted me to change. Part of me admired this, but another part found her foolishness...still, admirable actually. She was only trying to do the right thing after all...and I killed her for it.

I looked on the next page, seeing another glued in picture of Vanessa. She was in the old Subcon village, surrounded by our loyal subjects at the time. I felt a wave of nostalgia rush over me, as all these sudden emotions felt...strange, after feeling nothing for so long. Still, I began reminising of days gone by. Of the memories we shared. It was the two of us...and out kingdom...oh how they loved us...it was heaven...

I shook my head as I turned another page, praying for another picture. And I was greeted with one, to my horror. I gasped at I dropped the book, making inhaling and exhaling motions. It was a force of habit, since I couldn't actually breath doing this was useless. It just happened when I was stressed out...and I was beyond that when I saw the third picture. It was of Vanessa, watching that florist and I hold hands.

I wanted to cry. This moment. The worst day of my life was being shown to me all over again. And I had no idea how to react. What were these doing in the kid's diary!? How do these stupid Time Rifts just, give them out?!

Anger overtook me as I continued to look at the pages. The next one, showing Vanessa's broken heart. It felt like mine sank upon seeing that. It would've...if I still had one. Vanessa was heart broken too...I-...I was speechless. Yet I pressed on.

The next, showed me, noticing her run off into an alley way as I stood next to that other woman...I know it wasn't her fault, but I couldn't help but hate her. I took so much pride in eating that soul of her's. Part of me felt bad that a peasant was caught up in my business and that she suffered because of it...Yet another hated her for doing it.

I remember that moment well, as I ran after Vanessa as she returned to her manor, once buying the flowers.

It was getting harder to watch the event play out in my head as I stared at the pictures. I was reliving all of this...all over again...I had relived it before, since I think about it frequently when I'm not reading or haunting some poor soul, but actually having visuals to go with it made it that much more painful.

Pressing on, I looked to the next page as a dark aura consumed Vanessa, while I wondered what was happening at the time...oh how naive I was.

Turning the page to find the next image is when I felt a sharp pain in every part of my being. I saw myself being taken away by guards, as Vanessa transformed and her tears became ice...I-...I had no idea how to react. But I felt like seeing this was killing me all over again.

Looking the page on the right, I saw a picture of the basement, with it's single, lone prisoner. Seeing myself like that, as I first turned into this...purple form that I am now...that's when I began to cry.

I didn't even know I could still do that. But, I did it when I first died, and I did it now. I cried as I pressed my face into the book, wetting the pages.

"AGH!" I grunted as I threw the diary at the wall.

It bounced off onto the floor, as a glowing storybook page fell out. I snatched it up and placed it into my right hand, where I was carrying all these pages. I wanted this torture to be over. I hated this. I hated all of this!

Turning around, I rushed over to the metal capsule and jumped into it, not caring where I ended up. It couldn't be worse than this.

As the static faded from my vision, I saw the new location I found myself in...it was worse.

"WHO DARES ENTER MY HOME?!" A woman shouted from an adjacent room.

I immediately knew who this was, as it felt like I'd been stabbed by icicles upon hearing it again. She'd become so cold...so hate filled...is this how the kid thought I was?

The room I was in...was her bedroom. With her queen sized bed which I rubbed my two fingers against as I flew past it, her closet likely filled with dusty dresses and the wall paper, which was torn and peeling off in places. All of it hurt me. It pained me so much seeing this, as I rubbed away tears from my eyes. What...what had she become?

I looked around the room, taking every detail, with air so cold even I could feel it. This...Time Rift...it was getting more emotion out of me than I thought was even possible. Hat Kid had suggested getting some sense of feeling through means other than being aggressive after all...and I killed her for it. That's when another feeling hit me. I wasn't quite sure what it was. But it made my very core feel...awful. Like instead of my stabbed by the icicles, they were scratching every inch of my form...I wanted this all to stop. I needed it to.

Yet there was no capsule in this room. So, I turned towards the door which lead to the hall, fearing what I'd find on the other side...but it wouldn't budge. I decided I should try the other door...the door to the...children's room...the thought alone making me shiver.

I decided to delay that, by searching the room for any Rift Pons or Storybook pages. Looking under a loose floorboard, I noticed a Rift Pon, which I grabbed. There was also one on top of Vanessa's bed, which I floated up to and picked up. I opened the closet next, revealing a Storybook page as well as the frozen body of Mafia goon. That looked...awful. Why did she feel the need to freeze someone like that? For the fun of it?

That's awful! Who could find enjoyment in something so sadistic?...That's when my face dropped.

"...I could..." I muttered angrily.

Normally, I'd respect someone for doing something like this. But now? After seeing what she had become? I didn't. Maybe the kid was rubbing off on me, or maybe I'd just come to my senses. Either way, I couldn't imagine her doing something like this! Not Vanessa! Not...my Vanessa...But I knew deep down inside of me...she obviously had.

I looked around the room one final time, searching for any Rift Pons or pages I missed, when I noticed a Rift Pon sitting under Vanessa's desk. The desk had a mirror in front of it and was where she did her make up back then. It was also so nice watching her sit in front of that mirror back then, as we gazed at each other through it.

I bent down below the desk to pick up the Rift Pon before getting back up, deciding to take one last look in that mirror...and I froze. I wasn't staring back at myself in there. Was I?

In the mirror, a young man looked back at me. With his brown hair, a crown sitting atop it and was wearing his favourite red outfit.

I raised a shaking hand as I looked at my former self in the mirror, as he did the same. I placed it onto my head and began rubbing it, as the young man in the mirror copied me, moving his five fingers through his hair. I was staring at...myself. When I was alive. How? What was this Time Rift? What it doing? Why? I had every question imaginable, yet proceed to just stare at the alive version of myself looking back at me, with his eyes that hadn't turned yellow.

I shakily scratched at the centre of my face and sides of my head, watching with a strange anticipation as my copy scratched at his nose and ears in the mirror. Those were things I'd never have, not anymore. After that, I floated closer to the mirror as he walked to it, placing my hand on it and spreading out my two fingers, as the other me spread out his five. Then the tears came again. I wanted to be him again. I wanted to LIVE again! But I knew that would never happen, not without that Time Piece. But...did I even want to go back to someone like Vanessa? I didn't know anymore. She was more like me than I thought...and that wasn't a good thing.

Slowly, I backed away. I didn't want to. But I knew I couldn't stay in this forsaken place, looking at mirror which showed who I used to be any longer. It...pained me too much. Yet once I opened the door to the children's room, it hurt me even more. All those memories of talking to Vanessa about one day having kids, all those hopes and dreams of one day becoming a father flooded back to me as I saw all those toys, the crib, the balloons...all of it. But now? I doubted I'd ever have made a good parent, judging from my interactions with children...

I wished I could've stopped the tears, but I couldn't. All these memories, all these expirences, everything just...hurt. I thought I'd become desensitized to it by now, but seeing all this again...it was too painful to even describe. I'm the Snatcher! I'm feared by so many people! And here I am, crying in a child's bedroom.

In the centre of the room, sitting next to the train set sat the metal container which lead to the next area. The was no number floating above it, so I had enough Rift Pons to go in. I was about to, until I saw another Storybook page inside the crib. I flew over to it, leaning over the crib to grab the page. Once I did, I took in this dusty baby's bed. It was unfortunately never used, just like everything in this room...

After gazing at it for a few minutes, I eventually left the manor. I hoped I'd never return to it, not in that state anyway, as static clouded my vision upon jumping into the container.

Once the static vanished, I was once again inside Hat Kid's bedroom. Yet it was...different. It was certainly darker than before, since no lights were on and all my candles were strangely missing. Hat Kid's bed sheets had been thrown off onto the floor, the door of Hat Kid's vault was stuck inside the pillow fort, the toy chest was nocked over and her closet was open and empty.

Suddenly, I heard sniffling sounds. They sounded like they were coming from...a kid. Excitedly, I turned towards the sounds...only to find that brat with a mustache. Crying at the top of the pillow fort.

"What are you doing here? This is isn't your spaceship buddy. Now get lost!" I shouted at her, flying over to the girl.

Yet, she didn't react, as she continued weeping. It seemed like I couldn't interact with anyone in this Time Rift...strange. Still, what was SHE doing here? Why was she crying? It was then when I actually paid more attention to what was around her. She sat in front of the window which gave her a view of space, yet was looking down at various outfits the Hat Kid owned. I remember her always coming up to me whenever she got a new one and I always told her that she'd look great buried in them...if only I could take back. She was just trying to be friendly, since she knew about how I never used to be like this...if I had done the same for her, she'd still be alive right now. Since, it was very likely I had killed her when I threw that Time Piece at her.

I noticed that the little red girl also had Hat Kid's next to her, opened to a certain page. I picked it up, glaring at her, and began to read to myself.

"Day 179  
Today I had a sleepover with Mustache girl! She's so cool! Kinda reminds me of the Snatcher, since he's really cool too! It's just that...she's a lot nicer than him."

I stopped reading for a second, trying to understand this. So, Hat Kid for whatever reason had a sleepover with this girl? Why? And why did she think I was 'cool' when all I've ever done is torment her? And since when was this girl 'nice'? She literally tried to judge a whole planet based on some whether they were good or bad, then KILLED the bad guys!

...But I guess that made her a lot better than me...I kill the good guys. That's when I was hit by an a terrible, aching feeling. I don't know why either! Hat Kid was just another contractor, there's no way I feel...remorse for what I did...right? I'm pure evil! I have zero likeable qualities! There's no way I actually felt bad for her! I shook my head and kept reading.

"Whatever. Although, she doesn't like diaries very much, which kinda stinks. But still! Mustache girl is so funny! And she's really tough (but she's also a big softie, but no way am I telling her that)! And she's just so fun to be around! I feel so warm and junk whenever I'm with her! She makes me so happy! She's kinda weird though. She goes red a lot and I'm pretty sure that's because she's just really nervous all the time. Still, we're a team! And I'm going to help her stop going so red all the time! Even if it is kind of...cute. But there is NO WAY I'm telling her that! Anyway, I'm gonna go back up and talk to her. Hopefully I can visit The Snatcher soon so we can all be buddies up here!"

I couldn't help but smile. She is so innocent. Well...she was. Then, my smile faded.

I placed the book down gently next to the kid with a mustache, before floating away as she continued to cry. Now, where was the exit? I looked around the room, unable to find one, when I noticed a strange detail on the walls. All the pictures she drew were replaced with pictures...of us. Hat Kid and I. I looked down away from them, as if they were judging me. It felt strangely ominous.

Still, I searched around some more. Finding another Storybook page on top of the kid's bed. After that, I looked behind the vault door which was stuck in the pillow fort...finding another purple Time Rift. Curious, I poked it, causing it to crack. That's when I remembered that at the end of the rift collapses, Hat Kid always breaks one of these! So this was the end!

Picking it up with my claws, I threw it into the wall causing it to smash immediately, as a Time Piece flew out of it. I looked back at the crying red kid before floating over to it.

"Oh you'd like to take that. Wouldn't you?" I taunted her, as I was met with no response.

I still didn't trust that brat. Then, I grabbed the Time Piece, causing the whole room to glow with a strange white light! Confused, I watched as everything in the room disappeared...as I re-appeared back in front of Hat Kid, who lay there motionless in the black room. Wait. Now that I got the Time Piece from the rift...shouldn't the Storybook pages say something now?

I looked at my hands, one containing the Time Piece and the other containing actual drawings. The first page showed Hat Kid and I, as she signed a contract which gave me her soul, with a title above it which read, 'I just wanted you to change', making my eyes widen upon reading it as I stared back at Hat Kid's motionless body. The next picture, showed her vandalizing one of my contracts as she giggled as she drew 'Be my BFF' on it. The third, showed Hat Kid happily handing me a picture of the two of us with our arms around each other, as I stare at it confused. The fourth image on the other hand, was of Hat Kid shouting at me as she cried in the darkness of her ship, as I looked away from her. The final Storybook page was of me throwing the Time Piece at her head, as she screamed.

I dropped the pages. Staring back at Hat Kid's body. I had to do something. I had to. She tried helping me become a good person until the very end, and what did I do in return? I give her that end.

I floated over to her body, picking it up at placing my hands on both of her shoulders as I shook her.

"Kid! It's me! Wake up! Come on!" I told her desperately, yet to no success.

I looked around the black void, looking for some way to help her. Yet, there was obviously none. So, I snapped my fingers and the void disappeared, as we were both back in the arena she fought me and that outhouse in. I picked up her body, clutching her in my arms and holding her against my chest. That had to be something I could do! But what!? That's when I spied something sitting on a mushroom outside the stone arena. It was a health pon.

I dashed over to it, quickly throwing it into the kid...but she wasn't waking up. In a state of panic I began gathering as many health pons as I could...but no matter how many I gave her, she wasn't waking up.

"Uh, what's the matter boss?" A minion walked up to me from the lake behind the arena, questioning me.

That's when I had an idea.

"Come with me!" I ordered them, as I picked them up and flew into Subcon village, placing the minion down.

Everyone stared at me, wondering what I was about to do, proabbly fearing the worst.

"EVERYONE! I need you to gather health pons for me! Go grab as many as you can! Grab more than that! Just go! Fifty pieces of mail to whoever brings me the most! I'll be waiting for you all at my tree!" I announced.

Just like that, the whole village began scrambling into the forest, desperately searching for health pons. And I was desperately hoping this would work...

I hurriedly floated back to my tree, placing Hat Kid carefully down onto the carpet. Before immediately searching the forest myself. I looked high and low, around every nook and cranny trying to find health pons. My arms were completely filled with them by the time I was done searching.

As I floated back to my tree, hoping I wasn't too late, I saw a horde of Minions, Dwellers and even a Fire spirit all carrying health pons surrounding the tree, looking expectantly at me.

"Boss! We did what you said!" One minion informed me as I flew over to it.

"..." The Dwellers didn't say anything as they held a health pon by the tail.

"Can I exchange the mail for paintings? I need more fueeeeellllll!" The Fire spirit asked.

I flew next to Hat Kid, dropping the forty health pons I collected on top of her, as she absorbed them. Still nothing.

"EVERYONE GETS MAIL IF YOU THROW ALL YOUR HEALTH PONS AT THIS KID RIGHT NOW!" I shouted to the crowd, as they all cheered.

The crowd began throwing their health pons at Hat Kid, as they all entered her body as a faint glow appeared around it, similar to the one that appeared when everyone sacrificed themselves to get her the health pons to beat that little red girl.

Once everyone finished throwing all the health pons in Subcon Forest at Hat Kid, we all stared at her intently...waiting for something...anything...that's when I noticed her chest beginning to move, as air exited her nose.

__________________________

"Ugh, what...happened?" I asked, holding my head.

Everything hurt. Especially my head, which I rubbed the back of. I began to shakily stand up, as my eyes flickered open...as I was surrounded by Snatcher Minions, Dwellers and a Fire spirit?

They all cheered. All of them. Minions began jumping around and celebrating, Dwellers began flying around excitedly, as the Fire spirit began to dance.

I adjusted my hat onto my throbbing head, as I looked around gave the crowd a wave.

"Hey kiddo." Snatcher greeted, floating over to me.

That's when my eyes widened, my skin turned pale and I dropped onto my back, cowering away from him.

"G-get away from me! D-don't hurt me!" I screamed in terror.

The crowd went slient as Snatcher's smile became one of confusion...before he chuckled lightly.

"So what it took for you to finally be scared of me was for me to help you out? You really are quite the character, huh?" Snatcher chuckled.

"Help me out? You tried to kill me! Again!" I shouted at him, crossing my arms.

"Kiddo, I did more than just try. And once I did...I think I realised something. It's not worth it." Snatcher admitted, shrugging.

"What's not?" I asked, titling my head.

"It's not worth-," Snatcher noticed the crowd was still listening, "EVERYONE SCRAM! I'll get your mail later!"

The crowd dispersed, clearly intimidated by The Snatcher's booming voice. Can't say I blame them honestly, he was...really scary all of a sudden.

He flew down to his chair, as I backed away from him, my breathing quickening.

"Kiddo. Don't be scared. Listen, I've made a couple...mistakes, in my time. And killing you would've been the worst mistake of them all. All you've ever wanted to do...was help me. So I just wanted to say...thanks kid." Snatcher explained, smiling at me.

I didn't know how to react to this. On one hand, he...killed me? Apparently? But on the other, this was the nicest Snatcher had EVER been to me! This was incredible progress!

"Uh...no problem...are we...friends now?" I questioned him, scratching my head.

Snatcher chuckled, as he snapped his fingers, as a contract appeared in a cloud of purple smoke. He pointed to one line on it in particular, showing it to me.

"Says it right there in black and white." Snatcher told me with a grin, as I smiled at him.

Then, Snatcher spoke again, pulling out a feather pen and a blank piece of paper from another purple smoke cloud.

"Although, that contract is unfortnatley null and void. So here's the deal. I want YOU to make ME a contract kiddo. Just, write whatever you want on it, and I'll do the rest." Snatcher explained, holding out the pen and paper in front of me.

I grabbed them, beaming at him.

"Wow...really?! You mean it?! You really, really really mean it!?" I asked him, with a huge smile on my face.

"Well, just don't write anything stupid on there. Then I'll mean it." Snatcher gave me a wink.

That's when I placed the paper on the floor and began scribbling. This was crazy! But...what caused this?

"Hey Snatcher? Why are you um...being so nice to me? No offence but you're usually...really mean." I admitted, shyly asking him.

Snatcher rested his head on his hand on the arm of his chair, as he explained.

"Listen. I killed you kid. No sugar coating it. And that made me realise something. You're a good kid. You didn't deserve that! There's plenty of souls who deserve to make a deal with me way more than you do. You've got your whole life ahead of you, I don't think I should just stop it, since...I know the feeling...and I know I'd do anything to change that." Snatcher explained to me, which made me smile.

I was still writing out the contract though, so I decided to make some more conversation.

"Hey Snatcher...do you still have happy memories with Vanessa?" I asked him nervously, knowing this was kind of a touchy subject.

Strangely, Snatcher began smiling happily. Was he in a good mood or something? Why? Is it because of me? Or the mention of Vanessa in the past?

"Oh of course I do! You should've seen her,-" I cut him off.

"Back in the day! Like dynamite with a laser beam or something right?" I giggled, doing my best Snatcher impression.

"Exactly. You know kid, I hope you meet a boy as special to you, as she was to me. Maybe, without the murderousness though. That's the perfect soulmate for me, not you." Snatcher admitted.

I looked away, embarrassed at the thought.

"Y-yeah...boys are icky Snatcher." I told him.

He chuckled at this, leaning forward.

"Oh, so you're still at that stage in your life! You'll come around soon enough. Besides, even when I looked that young, I still had at least a couple crushes. Of course, none as perfect as Vanessa, who I wouldn't meet until I was...proabbly a little older than you? I don't know how age on your planet works kiddo, I'm just going based on looks...speaking of which, anyone you liked there? I could give you a couple pointers." Snatcher offered, as I giggled.

"No that's fine Snatcher. I don't like anyone there. That's gross." I giggled in response as I continued to write.

"Well, I don't suppose you like anyone here either." Snatcher said to himself.

I gulped, not responding, before I turned around, holding the contract behind my back.

"Hey Snatcher! Look at me!" I shouted up at him, changing the subject, as he raised a non-existent eyebrow.

"Did you finish?" Snatcher asked, curiously.

He grabbed a pen from a cloud of purple smoke.

"Check this out...*ahem*" I told him, readying my voice.

"What're you do-," But I cut Snatcher off.

"FOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL!" I shouted.

Snatcher burst out laughing, slapping himself in the face as he leaned back in his chair.

"You blew it! You've totally screwed yourself! Nobody enters your home and leaves in one piece! Wait a minute. You get to live! That's right! Aren't you lucky? Muahhahaha!" I giggled, trying to be evil.

Snatcher was practically dying of laughter (despite already being dead) as he clutched his chest and slapped where his knee would be.

"Oh that's hilarious! I don't remember ever saying 'Muhahahaha' though." Snatcher explained.

But I kept going, through my own giggling.

"Shush! Your opinion doesn't matter! Now, put your name on the contract before I make your dead body sign it for you!" I shouted, holding out the contract.

Snatcher was still practically laughing himself to double death.

"Oh that's gold! I don't think that's exactly it though. Whatever, let's see that contract!" Snatcher rubbed his hands together excitedly.

I handed him the contract, which I drew a bunch of hats and skulls on, because Snatcher liked creepy stuff and I like hats! It was so much fun to write stuff too (maybe that's why Snatcher likes it so much?).

"Huh. All you've wrote down is, 'Be nice, be my friend and come back to the spaceship with me'. Is that it?" Snatcher asked, confused.

"Um...is that a bad thing?" I asked nervously, and I was met with another chuckle.

"Nah, you're just too nice kid. Personally, I would've wrote that if I ever leave the ship, you'll kill me. Or if I'm ever not nice, I die." Snatcher shrugged.

"You can't die!...Wait can you?" I asked him, really confused.

Snatcher sighed, before looking at me genuinely.

"No kiddo. I can't. I was just messing with you." Snatcher told me.

Suddenly, his face turned to one of surprise, as he snapped his fingers, and in a cloud of purple smoke, he handed me a Time Piece.

"Here. This belongs to you kiddo." He chuckled, as he placed it into my arms.

I thanked him, staring down at it in awe...he was really was improving...I smiled up at him after this, before his attention was drawn back to my contract.

Finally, Snatcher stamped the contract and wrote his really fancy signature on it. After that, I put it in my pocket! It was time for Snatcher to re-join me back on the ship!


	8. Snatcher and Mustache girl

Snatcher stood behind me as he teleported us back to my spaceship. Within a second, I was coated in a cloud of purple gas, which quickly dissipated as the inside of my spaceship came into view. Snatcher took me to the main hall of my ship, seeming to be the same as it always was. I felt a chill crawl up my back as his presence emerged from the ground behind me. He was as large as he usually was, rather than reverting to his smaller size, the shorter form he usually took when reading in my room or his tree. I was about to turn around to him, and give him a nice warm welcome back! That is, until I heard Rumbi making some soft, quiet and concerned beeps.

I looked around at the ground for the source of the noise, seeing no Rumbi near my feet. Taking a closer look around the main hall of my space craft, I finally found my little robot buddy, staring up at the driver's seat, it's pixelated pink eyes clearly full of sorrow. After inspecting the ground around my mechanical companion, I noticed various papers on the floor, all containing details of how the spaceship works.

After noticing this, I looked back at The Snatcher for some guidance, as he shrugged, at a loss for what to do. That's when I felt something nudge my leg, and begin buzzing, beeping and whiring with mechanical enthusiasm. Which got the attention of who was currently sitting in the driver's seat, as they turned around to find out what Rumbi was making so much noise for.

The person in the driver's seat turned around, gasping upon seeing me, as their tired eyes sprung to life. She held an old brown book in her arms, almost as large as her!

"Hat Kid!" Mustache girl exclaimed, as she jumped out of the seat, dropping the book and running towards me with open arms.

A smile crept it's way up my face, as a giggle did the same, while I stretched out my own arms, getting ready for a big hug! It felt as if my chest became...lighter? I'm not sure how to describe it, but I felt a new, strange feeling enter my body as the thought of hugging Mustache girl entered my mind. I'd given her a hug before, so what was different this time? The feeling was like, the opposite of when you've got a pit in your stomach. I had no idea what this feeling was, just that...I really liked it. And it only expanded as Mustache girl ran closer.

...Which is when Snatcher flew into the air and grabbed Mustache girl by the hood. As he bent his body back, preparing for a laugh, as I looked up at the two in horror, my face turning completely white.

"AHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAA! FOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL! Listen you little red nuisance, you have NO idea how long I've been wanting to do this for! Ever since the kid beat the life out of you, well, let's just say I've been DYING to do the same! This is what you deserve for trying to screw up her life for a second time...and what you get for DARING TO BELIEVE YOU CAN JUDGE ME!" The Snatcher roared with incredible malice.

Mustache girl was kicking and trying to punch the hand that held her, yet to no avail. This caused The Snatcher to laugh for a second time, as he lit his clawed hand on fire, with an icy blue flame glowing around it, bringing the heated hand closer to Mustache girl's neck.

I ran towards the pair in the sky, and placing my hands at the sides of my mouth as I prepared to shout up at The Snatcher.

"SNATCHER STOP IT! PLEASE DON'T KILL HER!" I screamed.

Snatcher looked down at me as he brought his flaming hand away from Mustache girl a little, as he raised an eyebrow.

"I'm doing you a favour here. Don't you see what she was trying to do? SHE was broke into YOUR ship and tried to steal it! I mean, what else could she be doing?" The Snatcher inquired as he brought his hand closer to Mustache girl.

I dug my hand into pocket, wriggling my fingers around in there, feeling around for a certain badge. As I felt it, I threw it into my hat immediately, before launching my Hookshot at Mustache girl's chest, and pulling her down.

Unfortunately, in the heat of the moment I underestimated my strength and sent Mustache girl flying out of Snatcher's hand, as the claw wrapped around her waist...and threw her right on top of me.

Mustache girl's face was brought close to mine, as she lay ontop of me, as we just looked at each other for a little bit...as I looked into those big, yellow eyes that stared into mine...that's when that feeling swept over me again. I didn't know what it was! It was some kind of...joy? But why? I was just looking at Mustache girl! Mustache girl's face...her face...her adorable face~

I shook my head and shut my eyes. The heck kind of thought was that? Weird. Anyway, I gave Mustache girl a welcoming little smirk upon opening my eyes, as she gave me a toothy grin, before we just started giggling as we got up, brushing ourselves off.

"So uh, did you just forget about me or what? Speaking of forgetting, do you NOT remember what this girl did to you kid?" Snatcher inquired as he scratched his head.

I placed an arm around Mustache girl, before giggling some more, as whatever this mysterious happy feeling was only grew.

"Well, she DID try to kill me before...but eh, who hasn't?" I chuckled to myself.

Snatcher grinned at me in response, floating down in front of us.

"Well, you got me there kid...anyway, I'm guessing the two of you made up after your little fight for the Time Pieces. That's a shame, I was really looking forward to burying you in my forest." Snatcher threatend as he pointed at Mustache girl.

My face dropped. I thought Snatcher was a good guy now! What was his problem?!

"Snatcher! That's no way to treat a person! Remember, you're supposed to be nice now!" I told him, shaking my finger at him.

"Look kid. I'm going to try and be better for you. You're the one who's had so much faith in me changing, not her. She's the complete opposite of you kid! SHE doesn't believe ANYONE can change! So, let's get rid of her and then we can get all your Time Pieces back! After all, the reason you lost them again is because. Of. HER!" Snatcher pointed at Mustache girl, ready to grab her by the neck.

I stepped in front of Mustache girl, stretching my arms in out in the way of her I brought out my umbrella.

"No Snatcher. I don't want to blame anyone for the fact I lost my Time Pieces again. But if I had to blame someone, it would be you! You watched everyone in my ship steal all my Time Pieces while YOU stopped me from protecting them! YOU put everyone in danger, NOT MUSTACHE GIRL! SO YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO SAY THAT, WHEN YOU WERE BEING SUCH A BIG...MEANIE FACE!" I retorted, pointing the umbrella at him.

Snatcher grineded his teeth together, and clenched his fists, glaring at Mustache girl, who tried staying out of view behind me.

"...Fine. I did do that. But I think you're forgetting that she told the whole planet about the power of the Time Pieces! And if she didn't do that, we wouldn't be in this situation! And if YOU didn't give her that Time Piece before trying to leave, you wouldn't be stuck here, and none of this would've happened!" The Snatcher roared.

I felt tears building up in my eyes, as I shut them before replying.

"Well!...well...maybe I-...maybe I'm glad all of this happened..." I whispered, looking down at the floor.

There was a long pause in the room after that, as Snatcher just looked at me in complete disbelief. Mustache girl did the same as she stepped away from me, quite literally taken aback by my words.

"Wait...you...wanted this to happen?" Mustache girl tilted her head at me.

I let out a soft chuckle, before opening my eyes and smiling at her.

"No. Obviously I didn't think I'd ever be in this situation...but now that I'm standing here? Next to the two people I really, really care about? Yeah. I think I'm happy things have turned out like this." I admitted, rubbing my arm out of nervousness.

Snatcher's raised a non-existent eyebrow as he rubbed the back of his head, likely out of not knowing how to react.

"How come...you care about her? After what she's done to you?" Snatcher questioned.

Mustache girl stepped towards him, as she began grinding her teeth this time.

"What I've done? Look you creepy...whatever you are. You just tried to kill me! And now you're gonna be talking about what I've done?!" Mustache girl retorted.

I placed a hand on Mustache girl's shoulder, which always seemed to make her feel better. I shook my head before turning to Snatcher.

"Listen buddy. I know Mustache girl's done a lot of bad. But...she's done so much good now. She helped me beat the Mafia Boss! She's saved my life twice at this point! She's been there for me, when literally everyone else on this planet is against me! Mustache girl is a good person. She's always tried to be. Even if she hadn't succeeded back then, she definitely has now. And I trust her. I trust her more than anyone." I told The Snatcher, remaining calm as I turned to Mustache girl, giving her another smile.

I saw her face turn that cute red color again, as she gave me a smile while she twirled her hair...which was pretty uh...pretty cute too~

Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Snatcher gaze at us in confusion, before he looked at my face, before grinning from ear to ear, as my face felt like it was heating up...for some reason?

"Oh ok kiddo. I didn't know you cared about her THAT much! I guess I won't torment her then, for your sake kid." Snatcher laughed to himself (what the peck did he mean by that?).

"Uhhhh, ok! That's great actually!" I exclaimed, wrapping my arm around Mustache girl, bringing her closer to The Snatcher.

I let go of her, smiling at the two of them with my arms behind my back.

"Now, you two introduce yourselves properly! Then, we can all be pals!" I giggled in anticipation.

Mustache girl looked at me hesitantly, while Snatcher just smirked at this. He had proabbly gotten pretty used to my general attitude after spending months up here with me, so he held out his clawed hand.

"My name's The Snatcher. Well? What are you waiting for? Shake my hand kid! I don't bite people...I prefer them freezing to death." Snatcher joked with his twisted sense of humour.

Mustache girl looked at me and pointed at him, as if trying to tell me he was bad news...but I just brushed it off by rolling my eyes and pointing at him, hoping she would shake his hand.

Mustache girl held her hand close to her chest, as she stared at his with wide eyes. I mean, I knew how she felt. One minute someone's trying to kill you, the next they're saying won't. Well, I guess it works in the opposite order for me most of the time.

After her eyes stopped darting from his hand, and over to me, she eventually sighed and placed her hand into his.

"I'm Mustache girl...it's uh...weird to meet you?" Mustache girl spoke honestly, wincing at his sharp, cold hand.

I mean, I doubted it was really that nice for her to meet him properly for the first time. Anyway, now that I had faith the two wouldn't kill each other as their hand shake quickly came to a close, I hopped over to Mustache girl.

"Sooooo...what were you doing back there? To be honest, I thought you'd still be asleep now." I told Mustache girl.

"Asleep?! Kid, I know sleeping in here is comfortable, but I couldn't sleep for almost two days straight!" Mustache girl laughed.

Snatcher and I exchanged a glance. There's no way I'd been in the Subcon Forest for nearly two days! Right?

"Pppssssttt, Snatcher? How long did it take you to get all those health pons?" I questioned him.

Snatcher put a hand over his mouth, so Mustache girl couldn't hear about how he killed me...not that I remember being dead. I just believe him.

"Half an hour at most! Unless...hey kid? Does uh, time pass differently in those Time Rift things?" The Snatcher oddly questioned me.

I did a double take. How did he know about Time Rifts?!

"Um. Yeah it does. It can flow quicker or slower depending on the color of the Rift...why do you ask? Did you-?" I was about ask, when his nodding answered me.

Wait. Snatcher went inside a Time Rift?! How?! When?! Why?! I wanted to ask all this, but it would just look weird, since we'd been whispering this whole time. So I turned back to Mustache girl, deciding to continue the conversation another time. 

"Uhhh, yeah...anyway. So...what did you do for almost two days?" I asked her, titling my head.

Mustache girl pointed to the book and paper beside the chair, as a ray of sadness filled her eyes.

"I tried to fly your ship to find you Hat Kid. But, I couldn't get it to work! Rumbi and I tried everything! Rumbi gave me that book about this spaceship, but it was written in some weird language. And...I sort of...got angry and ripped out a page or two...I'm sorry...I was just...I-..." Mustache girl began twirling her hair between her finger as she looked away from me.

I placed my hands on my chest, as I felt that fluttery feeling inside it, as I gave Mustache girl a wide smile.

"Awwww, you wanted to help me? That's so kind of you! See Snatcher! She has changed!" I beamed at the two of them.

Mustache girl gave me a toothy smile and a playful punch in the arm.

"Of course I wanted to help dummy! You just left me up here! I thought we were a team! And then you just leave for over a day without telling me? Why?" Mustache girl inquired, her tone becoming more serious as her question continued.

I began rubbing my arm. Not because the punch hurt, it was just a playful one after all. I rubbed it out of embarrassment and guilt.

"Well...it was just one Time Piece. I thought it would be easy to collect! Just grab it, and still come back in time to make you some breakfast...but things didn't exactly, go to plan." I informed her, twiddling my thumbs in shame.

And right on cue, a large rumbling noise emitted from Mustache girl's chest at the mention of food.

"Yeah, about that. I haven't really eaten all day...or yesterday. I tried biting into one of your weird alien foods, but...that made me throw up." Mustache girl spoke, as she clutched her stomach.

I gasped in fear. She hadn't eaten for almost two days because of me! This was awful! I needed to get her some food immediately! If only Cooking Cat were here...Still, I jumped into the driver's seat as I began pressing buttons. I would've loved to take Mustache girl to the Nyakuza Metro so we could go eat some ice cream the together...just the two of us...together~

I shook my head once again. What the peck was going through my head?! It was so weird! I hated it! But...somehow I...wasn't opposed to the idea-ANYWAY! I decided to focus on what was in front of me. Being, Mafia Town. Since it was the only place besides Subcon that wasn't coated in that white light that indicated the planet was changing. Despite the fact Mustache girl and I had already been to Dead Bird Studio, it was coated in a white light too...weird.

I set a course for Mafia Town, thankful there was no longer any smoke or giant factories covering the island. It was back to it's old self! I know Mustache girl hated Mafia Town in its current state, since it gave her...bad memories. And everyone there hated her, but...she helped save it from that mean old Mafia Boss! So, maybe the Mafia wouldn't be as mean to her? That's what I hoped. Since, I doubted Subcon Forest really had any food in it. Much less, food that wouldn't poison you for so much as looking at it.

Snatcher leaned on my chair, looking down at me. He took my hat off of my head and began twirling it on his finger, smiling down at Mustache girl and I, as she stood beside my chair, likely wanting to stay close.

"You know, I don't get why she needs to eat kiddo. I mean, I don't eat and just look at me!" The Snatcher laughed to himself as he placed my hat back onto my head, giving it a pat.

I giggled at this, as I decended the ship towards the island. It was clear to me from the orange sky that Mustache girl was definetly telling the truth when she said I'd been gone almost two whole days! Yet, the town was still as lively as ever. Mafia goons walking through the streets, boats sailing around the town and the salty sea air hitting me even high up in my spaceship.

That's when a smile climbed onto my face once again. A triumphant smile. I did this. I made everyone who lived here have a better life. No more robots, now it was just fish and relaxation! That just felt...good. I felt my spirits being lifted as I knew I had just made everyone who lived there go back to their best lives!...Well, almost everyone.

I glanced at Mustache girl who was pulling a bunch of goofy faces at the Mafia below. Sticking her tounge out, pulling her nose up and other rude gestures...all of them made me laugh and clutch my chest.

"Hahahaha! Heh, oh you're so silly Mustache girl..." I giggled in my chair, as I began climbing out of it.

We walked over to the window, as I felt Mustache girl hold onto me, keeping a tight grip on my chest as she waited for me to jump out and pull out my umbrella. Feeling her head rest on my shoulder as she did so...it felt so...so...different. I don't think I'd ever felt a feeling like this before in my life! I felt so alive! So full of energy! And I cherished this feeling, as I felt my face get...warmer? Was that the right way to describe it? I didn't know, but it felt...wonderful~

I reached for the handle of the window, when I noticed Snatcher looking at the two of us, trying to contain his laughter as he placed a hand over his face. I groaned, placing my hands on my hips.

"What's so funny?" I asked him, a little agitated that he disrupted my train of thought.

"Pfffft, oh nothing kiddo! You two just remind me of something, that's all. Heh, you know. I could just teleport you down th-," Snatcher grinned even more when I held out my hand to stop him.

"Oh no no no! That's ok! I can get down there myself!" I interjected.

"I knew you'd say that." The Snatcher only grinned further as he floated away, leaving us be.

I was about to reach for the handle to the window...before stopping myself. He was my (legally binded) friend! And I needed to include him, as his friend, it's my duty!

"Snaaaaatchy! Do you want to come with us? It'll be fuuuuuunnnn!" I asked in a sing song voice.

From his grumpy expression, it looked like he was about to reject my offer as he raised his hand...before smirking and shrugging.

"Sure. I guess I'll live a little. Or not. Doesn't change the fact I'm coming." Snatcher explained as he disappeared into the ground.

Mustache girl raised an eyebrow at this.

"Uhhhh, where's he going? And why did you invite him? He seems...weird. I don't know. There's something off about that guy." Mustache girl told me as I just shrugged.

"Eh, you'll get used to it. Try and be nice to him ok? He's had a rough life. A REALLY rough life! He just gets a little cranky sometimes, that's all so...I don't want you guys to kill each other." I told her, as I became teary eyed at the thought.

Mustache girl held me tighter, as that strange feeling from before only grew, making my chest feel so full, yet empty at the same time. I have no idea what is was or how to describe it...but...it was beautiful~

"I guess I'll try not to. But any funny buisness and he's DEAD!" Mustache girl laughed...not realising how empty that threat really was to Snatcher.

So, we jumped down to Mafia Town. As the clear air touched my skin, as the two of us fell...before pulling out my umbrella riiiight before we would've hit the ground. We landed in the town square, on top of the fountain the Mafia still hadn't repaired.

"How are you so good at that?" Mustache girl asked, after letting go of me.

"Badges. Get some." I chuckled to myself.

Suddenly, I began to feel a lot...colder. As if a blizzard had just started, yet only behind us.

"WHY HELLO THERE! What are you two up to?" Snatcher questioned us from behind.

I turned to face my ghostly companion, giving his tail a nice hug. He didn't flinch or back away like usual though. Instead he just let me embrace his uh...not very comfortable to touch and icy feeling tail.

After getting off of it, we began walking down to the "Seaside spaghetti" restaurant, while the Mafia shot us...interesting looks.

"Ah! It is Mafia Town hero! And...Mafia does not know what that is." One Mafia goon exclaimed as we walked past him.

"Hat child? Why is unruly child with you? And what is that? Mafia thinks you need to associate with less freaks and more Mafia." Another told us as we walked past the beach.

Mustache girl glared at him, which is something Snatcher took notice of as a smirk appeared on his face.

"Hey kid. Watch this." Snatcher whispered to the two of us as he flew over to that Mafia member...uh oh.

We watched Snatcher do he usual routine of calling them a fool, making his big speech...before picking them up and throwing them off of the island?! The Mafia goon was launched out of Snatcher's hand, into the sky and proabbly space. All while Snatcher just laughed maniacally.

I was about to jump in front of my spectral buddy. To tell him that killing people is 100% never a good thing and that he should go save that Mafia goon, assuming he doesn't land in water! I took a step forward, before looking to my left, noticing Mustache girl laughing with him. Well...I guess if it made her happy...(I was still going to have a VERY stern conversation with Snatcher!...At some point...maybe...).

Snatcher flew back to us, noticing my disappointed expression as he continued laughing.

"Oh come on kid! Lighten up a little! That was gold! You should've seen the look on his face when I just threw him off like that! He was TERRIFIED! AHAHAHAHAHAAA!" Snatcher cheered.

I was about to speak up, when to my surprise Mustache girl interrupted me?! What the heck?!

"Oh that was priceless! And, when he, pfffttt, when started screaming, oh that was the best part! Hahaha!" Mustache girl agreed.

Snatcher placed a hand on her shoulder as the pair looked at me, grinning.

"See? She gets it! How come you don't kiddo?" Snatcher questioned me.

I looked away, as I began walking towards the spaghetti restaurant, while the two followed me.

"Well...that...wasn't very nice! I thought you were trying to change Snatcher. And Mustache girl, we need to help people, not hurt them! That's not justice." I explained to the two of them.

The pair exchanged glances guiltily, before both sighing together.

"Look kid, you can't expect me to stop being myself in a day kiddo. I'm trying, really I am, but sometimes...they just kinda deserve it." Snatcher explained to me.

I mean, I guess that makes sense. But what's the harm in trying just a little harder?

"I know Hat Kid...it's just that, you know I'm not really too fond of the Mafia. But...I'm get better at...tolerating them." Mustache girl grinded her teeth at that last part.

I grabbed both of their hands, holding one in each of mine as I skipped along the path, satisfied with their responses. We clearly still had stuff to work on, but at least we were getting somewhere.

When we finally reached the Seaside spaghetti restaurant, we opened it's doors...only to be greeted by five Mafia goons beating up the restaurant owner! I gasped at the sight. That poor old man!

"Hey Hat Kid? Do you think it's ok if we...you know?" Mustache girl asked me, pointing at Snatcher.

The pair looked at me, like a pair of kids who would look at their parent when egarly begging them for some kind of toy. And like one of those parents, I sighed before letting out a smile.

"Be my guest." I told the two, before going to find the three of us a table, doubting this would take long.

Mustache girl was the first to attack, jumping on one of the goon's backs and choking him while she giggled at his misfortune. My eyes widened at how brutal Mustache girl was being, but in all honesty I shouldn't have been surprised.

The Mafia goon backed up into a table before collapsing on top of it, gasping for air as Mustache girl climbed off of him. Snatcher grinned his usual evil smile, before picking the poor Mafia goon up by the leg and spinning him in circles above his head before throwing him into another goon charging at Mustache girl.

I couldn't watch. This was going to be a complete beat down in every way. So, I placed my hands on my face while I sat at our table, covering my eyes...but not before leaving a gap in my fingers so one eye could poke through and still watch, out of morbid curiosity.

Mustache girl ran up to the third Mafia goon and dodged his punch by ducking under it, as Mustache girl responded with her own hasty flurry of fists, that were sent into the Mafia goon's face. He dropped to the floor, yet not before The Snatcher shot a small multi-colored laser at him from the ground. It sent the Mafia flying into the ceiling, before landing face first back onto the wooden floor. Mustache girl and The Snatcher both exchanged a laugh at this, almost competing for the louder cackle.

Yet during this time they were distracted, two more Mafia goons threw tables at the pair of them. One hit the Snatcher, earning no reaction from him. The other, flew right into Mustache girl's face, which slammed her into the window, shattering it as she was launched outside into the water.

I placed my hands over my mouth as I let out a yelp. I pushed myself up from the seat and sprinted outside with my sprint hat, dashing through the glass window, past the Mafia and Snatcher as I dived into the water.

I noticed her body immediately, as I swam towards her and picked her up, my kicking legs propelling me to the surface as I threw Mustache girl back onto dry land. What was that thing grown ups did? Uh...Oh I know! I began pushing down on her chest with my hands, hoping this would work. As I saw she began coughing up water, which her whole body was already coated in. Near the entrance to the restaurant, I spyed a health pon. So I sprinted towards it and threw it to Mustache girl, hoping for the best. That's when she opened her eyes.

"Hey there, k-kid. I'm f-fine. It was just a table." Mustache girl unconvincingly told me as she pushed herself up off the floor.

I shook my head intensely as I placed my hands on her shoulders.

"No. Stay here. You need to rest. Try not to get caught off guard as m-," I almost finished giving Mustache girl advice, when I felt a punch launch me across the floor.

"Go away! Mafia fights her fairly! No outside help!" The Mafia goon growled.

That's when Mustache girl upper cutted him, punching his jaw so hard he fell backwards into the restaurant!

"Don't you DARE touch her punk!" Mustache girl threatened him, before running over to me and pulling me up.

"Thanks Mustache girl...my back hurts a little though, but I'll be fine." I explained, holding the spot on my back where I was hit.

She smiled, giving me a thumbs up.

"No problem! Now, what were you saying about not getting caught off guard?" Mustache girl giggled, as I merely rolled my eyes in response.

Turning back to face the building, we noticed a series of different colored flashes appear from inside, before a laser launched five Mafia goons out of the building and onto the floor outside, unconscious.

The Snatcher stuck his head out from the restaurant, winking at us, as we excitedly joined him, ready for some food. We all got it for free as a reward for saving the restaurant owner! Not that it really mattered to Snatcher though. Speaking of which, while I liked that he and Mustache girl had something they both enjoyed...beating the heck out of people. I hoped Snatcher wasn't a bad influence on her. I didn't want the pair of them to accidentally go back to being...not very good people, to put it lightly. Still, I'm happy that three of us could all sit there in front of our large bowls of spaghetti and just...relax.

After that, we stayed in Mafia Town for a couple more hours, mainly so I could buy some non-intergalactic food Mustache girl could eat, as she and The Snatcher stopped themselves from beating up anymore Mafia goons. Although, the three of us did make a pretty good team.

Snatcher teleported our little posse back to the main hall of my ship when it started getting dark out, as we all continued to joke about what we did down in Mafia Town.

"Heh, remember when we found all those Mafia vault codes?" I asked the two of them.

Mustache girl began to giggle as she sat down on the carpet, while I waved hello to Rumbi.

"Ha! Yeah! And when we took all their pons and used them to buy our food!" Mustache girl exclaimed, pointing to the large paper bag I held. 

It carried all kinds of treats for the two of us...and some veggies. Even if they'll proabbly end up in the microwave.

"You know, you do know stealing isn't that different from beating someone up, right? Although, that was pretty smart kids." Snatcher admitted.

I scratched the back of my neck nervously.

"I mean it is...kinda different. It's not as bad." I told him unconvincingly.

Snatcher waved a finger in the air authoritatively at these words.

"Come on kid. What did I tell you about stealing when you joined that cat gang?" Snatcher questioned me.

I tapped a finger on my chin, trying to remember.

"Hmmmmm...wait, didn't you tell me to commit more crimes?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

Snatcher nodded his head.

"Exactly!" He exclaimed with great enthusiasm.

The three of us all laughed at this, as I noticed Mustache girl slowly moving closer to my side, causing that strange, happy feeling in my heart to show it's face yet again. As it had most of the day.

Snatcher seemed to take note of this too as he smirked.

"Kiddo, I want to speak to you in...private, later. So, come into your room when you're ready to do that. I won't be long. I just...have to talk to you about something. Heh, but in the meantime, you should go check your reflection." Snatcher explained to me, before shrinking down to fit in the hall that lead to my room.

Huh? What did he want to talk to me about? Strange. And check my reflection? What?

Still, I walked over to my large glass window, with Mustache girl by my side and noticed...something on my face. It was...pink? Umm...what?

"Hey Mustache girl? Is there something on my face? I think it's pink and kinda big and stuff? Can you check for me?" I questioned her.

Mustache girl seemed to turn completely red at this, as she always did for some reason. I merley giggled. She was so much fun to be around...as I thought this, I noticed my reflection turning more pink.

"Ah! It's spreading! What's on my face?!" I asked her, more panicked this time as I placed my hands on my head.

I'd never seen this stuff before! Did I catch something?! Whenever I saw those old scary alien movies (that I proabbly shouldn't have watched in hindsight) the thing that always killed the aliens was some disease from the planet they landed on! Was that happening to me!?

Yet, Mustache girl's nervousness eventually became laughter, while still being just as red.

"Uh, don't worry about it. It's nothing really. It can happen to anyone." Mustache girl told me convincingly.

I calmed down after hearing this, Mustache girl's words reassured me. Still, it was proabbly time I got ready for bed, so as we continued to chat, I walked over to the kitchen to put the food away...when I heard something...that sounded like...

"Hey Hat Kid? What's that ringing sound?" Mustache girl inquired, pressing her ear up to the wall of my machine room.

I dropped the bag and squealed in excitement. It had to The Conductor or DJ Grooves! They were proabbly going to tell me about what was going on at Dead Bird Studio!

I grabbed Mustache girl's hand, wanting her to hear the call as I pulled her into the room with the biggest smile on my face. If I could help out Snatcher, maybe I could take this as an opportunity to stop Conductor and Grooves from fighting all the time...ok deep down I knew that wasn't going to happen, but I can dream!

As we stepped into the machine room, a cracked jar was sitting on it's side in front of the door, to 'greet' us.

"SO! WE MEET YET AGAIN! MY-," Yet the Mafia Boss was stopped when Mustache girl picked him up and threw him across the room, over towards the instruments...he's proabbly fine...proabbly.

Anyway, I just shrugged it off. He deserved it anyway for what he did to Mafia Town. So, with my excitement returning I picked out the phone and held it to my ear, causing the ringing to cease.

"Is this the kid with the mustache?" A deep, distorted voice asked...yet, it seemed oddly...feminine?

"No...who is this? How did you get this number?" I questioned the voice on the other end.

"This isn't for you. Give the phone to her. I know she's with you little one." The voice on the other line inquired again.

Scratching my head, I handed the phone to Mustache girl.

"It's um...for you?" I told her, as Mustache girl looked just as confused as me.

She took the phone with a cautious hand, before placing it to her ear. I walked closer to Mustache girl, placing my own ear up to the phone.

"Hello? Is this for me?" Mustache girl questioned the voice.

"Yes. Now, I have something to ask of you child. A proposition." The strange voice offered.

Mustache girl glanced at me, giving me a concerned look as she seemed unsure of what to do, before speaking again as I continued to listen intently.

"Go on..." She told the voice.

"Child. You seem to radiate...intimidation. That's something we value here. People are afraid of you for what you did back then, after you collected all those Time Pieces. That's something I value." The voice spoke, as the phone's terrible audio quality hidden who this person was.

"That's not who I am anymore. I'd like to think I'm...," Mustache girl reached for my hand, grabbing it (I could practically feel my bright pink face), "different now."

The voice appeared to scoff at this.

"Don't be ridiculous child. What you did back then was in your nature. You can't change that. Even if you think you will, you won't. You can't. Now, I run a very successful organisation. And I'd like to offer you a place here as someone important. All you have to do is complete a simple task, then call me back using the number I had given to you, confirming you successfully completed it. Then, we can arrange a meeting up here." The voice spoke again.

Mustache girl and I exchanged glances at this, knowing that whatever this task was, it couldn't be good.

"What do you need me to do?" Mustache girl asked the voice, I assumed out of curiosity.

"Bring her to me. Alive? Preferably. Dead? I'll accept it, but that would make me very proud of you, little one. The reward? Two million alive. One million dead. Then, we can talk further buisness." The voice offered.

Mustache girl hung up immediately, slamming the phone back in it's original position. Mustache girl was breathing incredibly quickly, as she stood there with her jaw hanging low, and her skin losing more color by the second.

"You-...you heard what they wanted me to do, right?" Mustache girl inquired with a shaky tone.

Shivering, I nodded my head as I squeezed her hand tighter. Mustache girl then jumped into me, wrapping her arms around my body she squeezed me tight.

"I-...I-...Hat Kid...I'd never kill you. I'd never dream of it. I'm so, so sorry about everything I did back then. Don't listen to them. I'm NEVER going to try that. I'm never bringing you to...whoever that was!" Mustache girl clutched me tighter, as she buried her face into my shoulder, which muffled her words.

That's when I heard her crying. It wasn't something I'd ever seen before. When she was in that prison cell back in Mafia Town, I could tell she'd been crying, but she'd never done it in front of me before.

I rubbed the back of her, trying to calm her down. If I'm honest though, I really liked the feeling of Mustache girl hugging me. It made me feel all warm and snug, not just on the outside.

"It's ok Mustache girl. I know that's not you. I trust you more than anyone else on this planet, remember? We're a team, and we stick together. No matter what." I reassured her, giving her a nice big hug of my own.

She looked up at me, eyes completely wet, as she rubbed them with her sleeve before taking it away, as new tears replaced the ones she wiped off.

"I-...thank you. I promise. I'm never going to do anything like that. I'll always do what's best for you Hat Kid. Always." Mustache girl told me, giving me one of her usual smiles before slowly letting go.

"Thanks Mustache girl." I told her, giving her a proud smile.

"No problem. I'll...even try not beating up the Mafia. If you want?" Mustache girl offered.

I faked surprise as I slapped my forehead and widened my eyes.

"Woah...are you even Mustache girl anymore?" I joked.

We chuckled at this, before Mustache girl spoke again.

"Heh, anyway, I'm going to just look at your paintings for a little while in the gallery before bed. I need to clear my head." Mustache girl explained.

I nodded before walking away from her, and out of the machine room, in the direction of my room. Welp, it was time for that talk with Snatcher...all while the events of my conversation with Mustache girl and the mysterious voice played over and over in my mind.

After opening my room's door, I saw The Snatcher had set up his candles once again, yet he wasn't reading. His, "How to kill kids book," was actually nowhere in sight! Speaking of that book, he wasn't in his usual position where he read it. Instead, he sat on the edge of my bed, facing the pillow fort, yet her stared off into space, appearing to be deep in thought. He sort of reminded me of Mustache girl there, as it seemed reminiscent of when she was looking out of the window of above the pillow fort at outer space.

I sat down quietly next to him, just looking up at his face. He wasn't smiling like usual, as his head rested on his hand. Slowly, his eyes drifted to the left, before eventually catching a glimpse of me, where he straightened his back and smiled.

"Oh, hey kid! I didn't realise you'd come in! So...are you ready for our chat?" The Snatcher asked, placing a hand behind him and resting it on my bed, rather than his head.

I nodded in response, still smiling.

"Let me guess. You've got some more contracts for me, and you've created some 'Super duper deadly Death Wishes' or something?" I asked, half joking, half serious.

This got a chuckle out of him, before he placed a hand on my shoulder.

"Hah! No way kiddo. Your death isn't something I want to see anymore. Same goes for that kid with the mustache, obviously to a lesser extent. Speaking of which, you seem to be awfully...fond of her. Wouldn't you say?" The Snatcher grined as he bent down closer to my face.

I recoiled, laughing nervously and tugging at my collar.

"Haha-ha...you could...say that-I mean! Look. If it's about that, I'm not interested." I dismissed him.

Yet, he shook his head, still smiling.

"No, it's not. Although, my offer to give you some pointers still stands." Snatcher informed me.

I wasn't too sure how to respond to that honestly.

"Um...maybe a couple wouldn't hurt...another time though. I'm not sure I want to get into all that now." I told my ghostly buddy, scratching my neck.

"You're a good kid. If I was a father, I'd want someone as tough, and somehow just as innocent as you kiddo. But...well, we know that's never happening. Although, that brings me to what I wanted to talk about." Snatcher explained to me.

I wondered where this was going, hmmm...

"Oh! You want a pet! You can't have a kid, so a pet is the next best thing! We could get a puppy! Or kitten, I looooovvveeee cats! I used to know someone who loved cats too but they um...Time Pieces got in the way...like always." I explained, not realising Snatcher was chuckling to himself again.

"Kid, you couldn't be more wrong if you tried! Still, I'm pretty sure I'd be a worse pet owner than a parent. I'd proabbly end up scaring the poor thing off. Then, I'd buy another to do the same! Ahahhahaa!" Snatcher laughed to himself yet again.

I hung my head low in disappointment, as I twirled my hair between my fingers, something I think I picked up from Mustache girl.

"Oh...you're proabbly right. But...I think if you were just a tad nicer...you wouldn't be a bad parent." I told him, looking up at the ghost and giving him as smile.

His smile seemed to completely disappear, before being replaced by a much smaller, yet very genuine looking one.

"You...really think so?" Snatcher asked me, in a state of disbelief.

I wrapped my arms around his cold, unfeeling, and almost sharp body. It felt like a bunch of tiny icicles were pressed against my chest and arms whenever I hugged him. But I didn't care. I just wanted him to feel better. He deserved it, after all he's been through.

"Wow...ki-...Hat Kid. Thank you. You don't know how much that means to me. But...I need to ask you something. I...need your help." Snatcher admitted, with a heavy sigh.

I looked up from his frigid body, raising an eyebrow.

"Does it involve more contracts?" I interrogated him.

He responded quickly, shaking his head.

"No. It doesn't. Listen, you've been talking about change for a while now. You've helped change that red girl that's for sure, and you've helped me out. A lot. So...do you think you could do something else for me? Just this once." Snatcher almost desperately asked.

"Sure! I'll do anything! Nothing's off limits! Ask away!" I confidently spoke, placing my hands on my hips.

Snatcher hesitated, his eyes darting around the room before he replied.

"Well...if you're sure..." Snatcher spoke, before pausing yet again.

An eerie, tense atmosphere filled the room as we both waited for these next words, Snatcher seemingly dreaded.

"I need your help...to try and change Vanessa..."


	9. Dead Bird Desert

There was a deep scilence in the room. I was biting my lip, as I just stared at him, eyes wide. H-how could I possibly...do that? I felt a shiver crawl through me, as if the mention of her very name was enough to trigger an icy feeling within me.

Snatcher stared at me as he lightly shook his head. He proabbly expected this kind of reaction, but didn't say anything, as he waited on the edge of his seat (edge of my bed?) for my response.

I gulped, as I attempted to form a reply.

"W-well, Snatcher. Y-you see, I um, I was only able to help you b-because you stayed up here with me for so long. And Mustache girl wanted to change, so I've been h-helping her, to do good!...the right way this time. Y-you undertsand that, I don't um...exactly know Vanessa very well, and I don't think she...likes me very much." I barley got out, pulling at my collar.

Snatcher took what resembled a deep breath before smiling at me, as his yellow mouth stretched across his dark face. Snatcher placed a cold hand on my shoulder as he looked down into my trembling face.

"Come on kid. If you can make someone like ME think twice about what they do, it can't be that hard to help someone like her. Right? You're a miracle worker kiddo!" Snatcher flattered me as he gently rubbed my shoulder.

I let out a nervous laugh as I moved away from him a little, still tugging at my collar.

"Um, Snatcher? That's not...really true. I can't even go up to her and have a conversation! She tried to k-kill me! And she's um...really scary..." I admitted, twirling my finger through my hair again.

Snatcher let out a small laugh (for him), before patting me on the back.

"Oh REALLY? Didn't you say everyone's tried to kill you at some point? Oh, and you think SHE'S scary?! HAH! How can you be afraid of someone like HER, and NOT ME? I'M WAY SCARIER!" Snatcher boasted, laughing to himself.

I giggled a little too, before moving closer to the spectre once again, giving him a hug as the chills only moved further up my body.

"No way you big goofball. You're my best friend! And Vanessa's um...not..." I told him, as I felt his icy, ghostly form cause me to shiver once again.

Snatcher raised an eyebrow, wrapping his arm around me for a little bit, before he pushed me away, since I was starting to see my breath.

"Huh. Honestly, I thought that red girl was your best friend. You two seem pretty cl-...ohhhh I FORGOT KIDDO! CLUMSY ME! YOU-," Before Snatcher could begin teasing me, I stood up and waved my hands in front of him.

"H-hey! No, stop! Don't you dare finish that sentence!...um, both of you are my besties! That's all!...And don't you dare tell her what you were about say either!" I ordered him, crossing my arms, feeling my face become the only warm part of my body.

After another cackle from Snatcher, he hovered up from the bed, grinning.

"Alright, alright. I'm not sure she'd really mind honestly. But, if I don't tell her...what's in it for me?" Snatcher questioned, grinning further as he leaned down towards me, giving me an even clearer view of him.

"M-my...friendship and respect of c-course!," I saw him still waiting expectantly, before I looked at the ground and let out a sigh,"...fine. I'll...I'll try my best to change Vanessa."

Snatcher sprang up into the air, spinning in a circle with his arms outstretched.

"OH KID YOU WON'T REGRET THIS! I'm positive you'll be able to help change her, then things can go back to how they used to be! Just the two of us in our forest together! Ohhhh, this is going to be great!" Snatcher shouted, ecstatic.

He began hovering back down towards the bed as I sat down on it, facing the ground.

"This is gonna be hard..." I sighed, placing my head in my hands and groaning.

Snatcher shook his head as he floated in the air placing his hands behind it, still smiling.

"Oh relax! It'll be easy! We'll just go to her manor and explain to her that there's no hard feelings after all these years! Besides, if you're really that worried about it, you could just give me back that Time Piece..." Snatcher dismissed.

I raised my head from my hands, as I gave the phantom a concerned gaze.

"Snatcher. We aren't using a Time Piece. It's too dangerous! You know that! I really wish I could help bring you back, but...I can't..." I informed him, as I thought back to all those Time Pieces sitting in my vault and felt sick.

Snatcher looked at me as his face dropped, before it quickly went back to smiling as he flew over to me and wrapped an arm around my body.

"Well, that doesn't matter. You can convince her without one kid!" Snatcher encouraged, making me smile.

I began twirling my ponytail, before letting out a yawn.

"Alright buddy...but I think I'm ready for bed...um, if it's alright, can I go see Vanessa...later? I want some time to think about what to say to her. Give it a day or two, you know?" I told him, releasing another yawn.

He sighed, staring back at me with bored eyes.

"That's...fine. I can wait. I mean, I've waited long enough already, but another day won't kill me! HAH!" Snatcher laughed to himself, filled with energy once again.

I let out another nervous chuckle, as I began frantically searching my brain for anything that wouldn't make Vanessa want to kill me on sight...I couldn't find anything. Not yet anyway. Still, I hoped that tomorrow would give me another opportunity to look for Time Pieces, since I was still missing a LOT more than I had actually recovered. Although, some time on the ship or at Mafia Town would be nice. As it would give me time to think about what I was going to say to Vanessa. Plus, I really enjoyed hanging out with Mustache girl and The Snatcher today! But, I knew it wouldn't stay that way...I'd have to leave eventually after all...

Still, might as well enjoy it while it lasts. So I walked out of my room to go visit the gallery. As I pondered what to tell Vanessa...what to say...what to say...what to say...what could I say? Could I say anything at all? My mind came up blank as I walked through the door to my main hall, catching a glimpse of the planet through my window, praying SOMETHING had changed!

It hadn't. All the white glowing rays of light coming from the planet were still there. Same as before...

I looked down at the ground, pouting as I stepped towards the machine room while my brain was still being rattled by all the thoughts running through my head, seemingly bouncing off the walls of my brain. There's so much I needed to do...so much I wanted to do...so many people I needed to help...and it looked like I'd have to start with the hardest one...

As I strolled past the Mafia Boss, who was shouting insults towards me (as usual), I held my head low as I headed into the gallery. But I knew that it wouldn't hang low for long, becuase as I walked through the hallway a smile crept it's way up my face.

The door opened upon getting close to it, as Mustache girl came into view, who was staring intently at a painting of Time Pieces melting on a tree. One hand rested on her chin, as the other sat by her side, fist clenched.

I glanced at her, unsure of what she was doing. I tip-toed further into the room, still watching my mustached companion. I saw her grind her teeth together as she glared at the painting with an unforgiving stare.

"Mustache girl?" I questioned her, stepping towards her with slight caution.

Almost instantly, Mustache girl's anger disappeared as she turned to greet me, as a toothy smile met my gaze.

"Oh, hey kid! Heh, didn't see you there." Mustache girl laughed as she folded her arms.

I stepped close to my hooded buddy, shooting her a warm, welcoming smile of my own to try and calm her down a bit.

"Yeah...is...something wrong?" I inquired, titling my head.

Mustache girl looked away for a second before her gaze was drawn back to me, as she began to sweat a little.

"Nope! But um...I think I need some rest..." Mustache girl admitted, twirling her hair between her finger.

I motioned for her to follow me as we slowly made our way through the hallway, the machine room and another hallway which lead to the main hall. My pace looked almost careful, as I kept glancing at Mustache girl as I stepped forward, barely moving.

Mustache girl appeared to be doing the same, although neither of us acknowledged it as we spoke. I stared at her, as a wave of what appeared to be nerves and excitement rushed through me. But, my snail's pace unfortnatley couldn't extend our conversation forever as we almost reached the door to the hallway which lead to my bedroom. That's when I noticed Mustache girl turn her head and stop, looking at the planet.

I saw her step towards the glass, slowly creeping up to it as she gently placed her hands on the transparent surface. However, I quickly ran after her, hoping right next to her as I stared in her direction.

"And I thought you wanted to sleep." I sarcastically commented, giggling.

Mustache girl let out a small laugh of her own as she diverted her eyes for a moment.

"Well, I did...but look at this view! You live with this?! This is the coolest thing I've ever seen! When I came in...uninvited, I never really took all of this in but...woooww..." Mustache girl gazed at the planet below with starry eyes.

I saw my face reflected in the glass turn slightly pinker upon being complimented like that. I gulped when I noticed this, begging it would go away before she noticed.

I jumped onto my ship's controls as I stretched my arm high up, so my finger would be pressed on the glass in front of Mafia Town.

"You can see so much of Mafia Town here!" I exclaimed, as she smirked at my sudden enthusiasm.

Mustache girl got close to me, jumping onto the controls. She bent down this time though, pointing to Subcon Forest.

"Hey, have we been there yet? There might be Time Pieces in that forest!" Mustache girl inquired, looking back up at me.

I pulled at my collar once again, as I put on a fake laugh.

"Ha...funny you should mention that, I uh, already got all the Time Pieces from there." I informed her.

Mustache girl took it better than I expected, simply shrugging as she continued to look at the planet. Huh, well she already knew I went down without her a few days ago, so I guess it wasn't a surprise I'd managed to grab all the Time Pieces in a certain area.

"Hmm...so that's Mafia Town and that forest dealt with...how about here?" Mustache girl questioned me, pointing at Dead Bird Studio.

"Haha, no we've been th-," I froze, what did she just do.

I did a double take and rubbed my eyes out of sheer disbelief. There it was, clear as day. All the light surrounding Dead Bird Studio had vanished, being replaced with a vast desert with...no actual movie studio? Usually I'm able to see it from here but, it was missing?

"Why would The Conductor and DJ Grooves get rid of the studio? They love movies...hmmm..." I muttered to myself, tabbing my chin with my finger as I attempted to make sense of it.

To my right, I saw Mustache girl shoot me a smirk as she lowered her eyebrows.

"Heh, I'm guessing that's where we're going next right?" Mustache girl asked...well, it wasn't much of a question if you already knew the answer.

After double checking the radar at my ship's controls, confirming there were still Time Pieces in Dead Bird...well, I guess it wasn't a studio anymore. Still, the signal came up positive, detecting plenty of Time Pieces within the outskirts of the desert.

I got up from my chair and faced Mustache girl, who was leaned against a wall at the back of the room, giving me a smug glance (oh she's just the best~).

I ran over to her and began raising my arm up, hitting her with my own smug face. Her's began fading as her face began to change to a shade of red, knowing I'd outmatched her. Still, I held out my palm in the air towards her.

"That's our next stop! The crime fighting time travellers are going to the desert!" I proudly exclaimed.

Mustache girl jumped in the air and high fived my hand, before practically bouncing around the room.

"Woohoo! Yes! I'm sooooooo ready to fight some more bad guys!" Mustache girl exclaimed.

She squealed as she began to jog in place and just started punching the air around her, clearly thrilled.

I rubbed my neck, looking at her with a slight disapproval.

"We aren't just going in there to beat some people up! We're doing this to get back the Time Pieces and make people's lives better by fixing this mess!" I told her proudly, trying to give her a more noble goal.

Mustache girl twirled a bit of hair between her finger, looking away from me.

"A mess I made. And becuase of it, everyone is in danger...and if I just gave you that Time Piece I woke up next to, you wouldn't have been stuck here..." Mustache girl reflected on her actions.

Well...she was right. I knew she was. But, there's no use blaming people. It only hurts them more, and I didn't want to hurt anyone if I didn't have to, especially from this planet...

I slowly walked over to Mustache girl, placing both my hands on her shoulders as I noticed her look up at me in surprise. I felt a lot better when I was this close to her, but still, her words kept repeating in my head.

"Listen Mustache girl. None of that matters now. What matters is that we're a team! We're in this until the very end! Sure giving you that Time Piece kinda stranded me here...but I'd defiently be lying if I said I didn't enjoy being here...so thanks. I really enjoy you just...being here. Now come on, let's get to bed. Or, heh, pillows." I informed Mustache girl, leaving her with another red face, as we headed off to get some sleep.

As I strode into my room, with Mustache girl beside me, I saw Snatcher sat in his usual spot, reading what appeared to be a new book. I ran up to him, jumping on his lap, which was cold to the touch (as usual). Mustache girl rolled her eyes over dramatically as she ran after me...sitting on his lap with me.

Snatcher glanced at the pair of girls below him and let out a slight chuckle as he put the book down behind him.

"You know kiddo, you two are more alike than I first thought!" Snatcher remarked.

Mustache girl raised an eyebrow at this, almost comically.

"Why? Because I sat down with her?" She retorted.

Snatcher ignored her as he took my hat off of my head and began twirling it on his finger. He looked at Mustache girl and began chuckling to himself, holding his other hand to his face. It looked like he had an idea. Snatcher then pulled Mustache girl's hood down revealing her messy blonde hair, and before she could object, he placed my hat ontop of her.

"PPPPFFFTTTTTHAHAHAHAHHAHA!" Snatcher and I both began uncontrollably laughing at the sight.

Mustache girl gave us both a wide smile as she stood up and looked at her reflection in the nearby window, causing her to burst out into laughter too.

I have no idea why the sight of Mustache girl with my hat was so funny...it just kinda...was.That's when I got an idea of my own, as I tried to contain my own giggling.

"H-hey, pfffttt, M-mustache girl? Can I borrow your cape and hood for, hahahahah! S-second?" My efforts to contain my laughter failing miserably.

Mustache girl couldn't contain her's whatsoever, as she likely guessed what I was going to do. She took off my hat for a moment, as she pulled the hood and cape off of her and handed them to me. Saying either of us were keeping a remotely straight face would've been a complete lie.

Meanwhile, Snatcher was floating above the ball pit, as his laughter completely filled the room, it's commanding presence would've been intimidating in any other situation...but this was not that situation.

I slid the hood and cape ontop of me, pulling up the hood. Mustache girl couldn't take how weird it must've been, seeing me in her cape and hood, which is proabbly why she held her chest as she giggled uncontrollably, before walking backwards and falling into the pillow fort. Her laughter was still audible from underneath all the cushions. As for Snatcher? If he were still alive, he proabbly would've laughed himself to death three times over by now.

That's when I had another idea, as I began giddily bouncing up and down. I jumped over to my diving board, standing on the edge of it as I wrapped both her cape and mine around me, concealing both my arms under the fabric. Mustache girl popped her head up from the pillows, which still had my hat placed on it as she wondered what I was doing as I began readying my voice.

"Hey you! Down there! I think I saw you, hahaha! Uh, stalking me! Kids should stick together, not stalk one another! Come up here and I'll give you some junk or something!" I chuckled to myself, doing my best Mustache girl impression.

"Close enough. Pfffttt, oh here's what you sound like!" Mustache girl temporarily stopped herself from laughing as she readied her own voice.

I sat down on the edge of the pillow fort, swinging my legs as I still had both our capes wrapped around me, as my face was beginning to hurt from smiling so much! But was that going to stop me? Heck no!

Snatcher on the other hand was desperately trying to get himself to quiet down, likely so he could hear Mustache girl's impression of me.

Mustache girl walked to the centre of the room, facing my direction and tipping my hat.

"Hello! My name's Hat Kid! I'm soooooo happy about everything all the time! Yay! Down with the mafia and stuff! Weeee!" Mustache girl exclaimed in a very over the top, squeaky voice.

It almost sounded like she was trying to make fun of me, but didn't want to say anything bad. So, I stood up and did the same thing.

"Ooohhhh my name is Mustache girl! And look! I have a super cool mustache that Hat Kid really thinks is super awsome and is really jealous of! I'm also mega tough! Bam Bam Bam! I'll beat up all the mafia!" I giggled, starting to lose the voice a bit, but I was trying not to.

I began rapidly flaling my fists around after taking the capes away from my arms, making Mustache girl laugh even more, as her cheeks became redder than the cape and hood she gave me.

"Aw, you think it's cool? I mean um, I'm Hat Kid! And I love everybody and you're all my friends! Hehe~ I'm soooooooooo smug and I bet Mustache girl wishes she was as good at dancing as her! Oh, and I also say peck a lot! Peck peck peck peck pe-AHAHAHAHAHAA!" Mustache girl couldn't contain herself at this point, as she held her chest and rolled on the floor.

Meanwhile, I had fallen off of the edges of the pillow fort and into the pillows below, rolling in laughter of my own.

"Hehe, Mustache girl...you're so funny..." I told her, crawling through the pillows.

Mustache girl turned her head towards me as she lay on the floor, still giggling a little as she stood up and handed me my hat.

"Oh, so are you Hat Kid...why did we ever even fight?" Mustache girl asked me, with a huge smile on her face as I took off her cape and hood and handed it to her.

I shrugged in response as I placed my hat back on my head.

"I don't know, but that doesn't matter, because I'd never do that to you ever, EVER again!" I proclaimed confidently.

Mustache girl gave me a soft smile upon hearing this.

"Same here kid." Mustache girl spoke.

That's when I tackled her to the ground, attacking her with a hug, bring us both onto the floor as I clutched her warm and soft body. It was definetly a lot nicer than hugging Snatcher that's for sure.

Speaking of which, Snatcher floated above us, as his laughter finally ceased before switching off the lights.

"Well, I'm going to leave you two alone for the night kids. And proabbly most of the morning. I've got mail to deliver, you know how it is kiddo." Snatcher explained to us.

"Try not to kill the mailman Snatcher." I told him with a sigh.

I got up from the ground, having to (unfortunately) take my arms away from Mustache girl, as I stood beside her, constantly looking in her direction, as I noticed she did the same. Snatcher also noticed this as he started to vanish into the floor, likely heading back to Subcon and smirking.

"No promises kiddo." Snatcher vanished into the floor with a wink, to go capture himself a new mailman.

Mustache girl and I stood in my dark room, turning to each other immediately. That's when she gave me a toothy grin and looked over at the pillow fort. I met her gaze with a determined stare, as we both ran into the pillow fort for another pillow fight!...But that didn't last long, as both of us fell asleep shortly after the fight broke out.

The next morning I found myself in a very familiar position. As my eyes fluttered open, pushing myself up from the pillows, I looked to the left and spyed Mustache girl clutching my arm close to her chest, arms wrapped around it.

"Awwww..." I exclaimed, feeling my heart melt at the sight.

I still wasn't used to seeing this side of Mustache girl yet. But I sure would love to get used to it...Oh wait. I let out a sigh, as I began to feel uncomfortable at this once soothing, unconcious gesture. Still, I didn't want it to end just yet, as I began to ignore that thought in the back of my mind, while I stared at her. Mustache girl's smile, her arms wrapped tight around my left, her soft face and those closed tranquil eyes. She just looked so...peaceful.

Even after pulling my arm away from her tight grip, I still sat there just...looking at her. I sat there for a around five munites, before tucking a bit of hair behind her ear as I got up from the fort and headed towards the door. I turned around, to look at her one final time. Most of her body was above the pillow fort this time, as she faced the ceiling with her hood down. I wondered what she was dreaming about...

"Hehe, sweet dreams...cutie~" I giggled to myself, before leaving the room.

I'm pretty sure she would kill me for saying that. And would proabbly place all my remains in a jar too. Despite that, I was done denying it. But was I going to tell her? Peck no!

I skipped out into my main hall with a giddy smile on my face from both the ladder half of the previous night, and the thought of returning to Dead Bird Studio and retrieving all Time Pieces I left there! So, I walked over to my controls and sat down, decending the ship towards the planet.

Upon getting close enough to make a safe decent, I saw that the spot where the studio had previously been was completely unrecognizable. In it's place stood a large town, with old western style buildings, like from old cowboy movies. I scratched my head. Could The Conductor be behind this? He did love western movies after all...But if that was the case, where was his train? I couldn't spy it from up here.

"*yawn* Morning Hat Kid...Oh that was the best sleep I've had in years." Mustache girl explained as she walked through the door and over to me in my chair.

I turned to the chair around to face her, giving Mustache girl a wave before getting up to point at the desert below us.

"That's where we're going next! You ready?" I asked her, visibly pumped.

Mustache girl held out her hand high in the air, which I proceeded to high five.

"Let's do it rebel squad! Although uh, can we have some breakfast first?" Mustache girl told me, rubbing her stomach.

I remembered that food we bought for Mustache girl yesterday and quickly ran into the kitchen and poured her a bowl of...chocolate cerial? Ew. Personally, I prefer squid flavoured cerial. But I guess people from this planet have different taste, huh? Nevertheless, I brought her a bowl after pouring milk in it (yeah people from this planet are definetly weird) and handed it to Mustache girl, who now stood outside the kitchen door. She proceeded to scarf it down like an animal, finishing it in less than a minute.

I took her bowl and threw it into the sink, before returning to her. Mustache girl was sitting down in front of the door next time, with the hats I gave her all lined up in front of her.

"Let's see...Sprint Hat? Check. Brewing Hat? Check. Ice Hat? Yep. That weird fox mask? Yeah. Time Stop Hat? Double check." Mustache girl muttered to herself.

She placed all the hats back in her pocket, then turning to face me.

"Let's go get those Time Pieces!" Mustache girl exclaimed, jumping and diving towards the glass door in my window.

I did the same, as Mustache girl wrapped her arms around me, preparing for the decent. I'll admit, I did take sliiiigghhttllyy longer than usual to find the hover badge in my pocket, so Mustache girl could keep holding onto me. But, I eventually had to place it onto my hat. So, I opened the glass door and dropped.

The hot air of the desert brushed against my skin as the pair of us fell. The sun gleamed it's burning gaze down onto the planet, as sweat formed on my brow. Yet, I was quickly approaching the centre of town. So I pulled out my umbrella at the last possible moment before slowly floating down, as Mustache girl let go of me.

Upon closer inspection, the old, wooden western town was...well, a ghost town. Not literally of course, but it seemed like nobody ever lived here. Windows were smashed, tumble weeds rolled around and there was a sense of...scilence. Despite this very old fashioned looking, run down town being very...well, old fashioned. There was graffiti on some of the walls, with pictures of rats with headphones and a couple knights lining some houses viewable from the square.

"So...what happened here?" Mustache girl questioned me, as she began to walk around on the sandy floor.

I walked beside her and shrugged.

"No idea." I responded, as my eyes scanned the area.

There wasn't a single person here. Just a bunch of cacti in the streets, more graffiti and tumble weeds. We continued to walk along the sand covered streets, as sweat soaked our faces, as the sun was practically melting us without a cloud in the sky to stop it.

"Uggghhhh it's sooooooo hot!" Mustache girl complained.

I just looked at her and nodded, praying we'd be able to just find the Time Pieces lying around somewhere. There has to be someone here! Right?

I decided to walk up to a house to my right. It was fairly small, only appearing to have one floor. I stepped onto it's wooden door step and pushed the double doors open. Inside was a grey couch that was nocked over, as well as a TV with a smashed screen.

I walked out of that house, wondering exactly what the heck happened here.

"Find anything? Time Pieces? People?" Mustache girl suggested.

I shook my head in response. I was going to start running ahead, to try and maybe collect some pons lying around on the roof tops, but all this heat just sapped the energy from me. As what was meant to be me running ahead turned into just tired panting before I just stopped and keeled down in the sand. Mustache girl walked behind me and helped me onto my feet, pulling me up by the hand.

"Greetings, fellow law abiding citizens." I heard a deep voice greet us.

Looking away from Mustache girl for a moment, we saw that a Crow was standing before us. He looked like every other C.A.W agent. Same coat, same hat, same amount of shady...ness. But, what was he doing here? And where did he come from?

"What's going on? And where did you come from?" Mustache girl questioned the Crow, clearly confused.

The Crow bent down towards us and began looking behind us, as if trying to remain discrete.

"Ah. It appears as though my fellow law abiding citizens are unaware of what happened here, yes?" The Crow asked us in a hushed tone.

The pair of us nodded in response.

"Well, after the incident with the Time Paradox, all that was left was a large hole, replacing that movie theatre. So, a couple of my, fellow law abiding citizens, took it upon themselves to look at the hole. To, our surprise, inside sat Time Pieces! So, we began to take them from the hole. Unfortnatley, we could not take them all, as we saw The Owl Express approaching us before we could even take most of them. So, we scattered. After we saw the red child go into the hole and vanish, we decided to use the Time Pieces for ourselves! Now, we are good people. So, we decided to use the Time Pieces to bring the worst group criminals on the planet to us, so we could arrest them, and take all their 'dollars'! For, evidence...of course." The Crow told us.

Mustache girl and I shared a look of confusion. Group of criminals? And how did that explain the western village? But, the Crow continued.

"You see, once we brought these fiends to us!...We greatly underestimated their ability to resist arrest. Which lead to us having our Time Pieces stolen! They used them, and created this village to rob any unsuspecting travellers who may wander in here! And us birds have been forced to stay in hiding from these foul criminals to not be burgaled ourselves! It is the only option! Since whenever we try to leave, they always capture us! Taking us down underground! As a result, there aren't many of us left up here. Most birds have been taken underground...for whatever reason. So, we need your help!" The Crow explained.

As he did so, I saw some Express Owls poke their heads out from windows, coming out of hiding ever so slightly. A few Moon Penguins climbed out of barrels and three Crows ran up to the first from a nearby alleyway.

"So much for this place being empty." Mustache girl muttered to herself.

Suddenly, a Moon Penguin ran up to us desperately, despite still snapping their fingers.

"Oh come on kid you've gotta help us out here! The Boss tried to leave for the Moon, but those darn cats took him from us!" The Penguin explained.

Wait...cats? Uh oh. I shifted my attention to the Crow, feeling uneasy.

"So, where do we find these guys?" I questioned him, readying my umbrella.

I looked back at Mustache girl encouraging her to take out her baseball bat, which she did, giving me a slient nod. Meanwhile, the Crow looked at a watch strapped to his thin leg.

"Well, they usually come to check for travellers every hour. So they should be here right about...now." The Crow explained.

Upon hearing this, every bird, including the Crow that told us, all ran off into broken down homes, hiding under tables, behind furniture, inside barrels or alleys.

"Hat Kid...What's going on?" Mustache girl asked nervously, as she held her bat out in front of her.

I went back to back with Mustache girl, as we got ready to inevitably wack some cats. We constantly shifted our eyes, looking for cats in the western village. Yet, we couldn't find any. Not a single soul seemed to be present anymore. That is, until the ground beneath us began to shake. It wasn't an earthquake. Moreso just, something underneath the sand trying to get up. In fact, multiple spots around the village all had sand on the floor that began to shift, shaking as something prepared to unearth itself.

Mustache girl and I backed away from the vibrating ground, placing our backs against the wall of a house. Which is when we saw numerous manhole covers fly into the air, as various Nyakuza cats all pounced into the air, as they landed on their feet.

Two came out of the manhole Mustache girl and I were on and one immediately spotted us, tapping their friend on the shoulder.

"Look! It's them!" The cat tried to whisper from underneath their mask.

But, Mustache girl was having none of it. As she put on her Brewing Hat (which funnily enough was the Nyakuza ears and mask) and threw an explosion of those dollar things at the cats. The two of them dodged it, clearly in a panic.

"What do we do?! The boss told us not to attack her!" One cat worriedly asked their companion.

I ran over to them this time, before jumping and trying to crush one with my ice hat, but they rolled out of the way of the frozen version of myself.

"I don't know! Just, attack this kid then! We'll deal with her later!" The other Nyakuza replied.

They pounced at me, as I quickly unfroze myself and counter attacked with a swing of my umbrella, causing the cat to expload into pons.

Although while we were fighting, I began to think about what they said. Why didn't they want to attack one of us? What would they possibly do with one us instead? I didn't have time to really think about all that now though, as I shifted my attention to Mustache girl who had three cats backed against a wall.

"Awwww, is the little kitten scared? Who's a nice kitty? NOT YOU! HAH!" Mustache girl taunted the cats as she wacked one in the face with a baseball bat, as it exploded into pons too.

Wait...they weren't attacking Mustache girl? Why? What reason would they even have? Still, I didn't get to think about this for long, as two cats pounced at me, emerging from the nearby manhole.

I rolled out of the way, before lining up my umbrella with them both as I equipped the projectile badge and fired a laser, destroying them both.

"Need any help Hat Kid? These cats are so easy to fight! They don't even do anything!" Mustache boasted.

I saw her effortlessly smash another cat in front of her with the baseball bat, before turning around and punching a second in the face...she's so cool~

I watched her every movement as Mustache girl just danced around the feline felons, as she smacked cat after cat with her fists and baseball bat. It was just mesmerising to watch. 

I broke out of my trance when a cat scratched at my face, pouncing out from another manhole under the sand. I was launched off my feet and sent flying into Mustache girl, knocking us both down into the sand.

"Good thing I'm not a cat person." Mustache girl told me, as she ran over to the Nyakuza member that attacked me.

The feline began sprinting away, yet Mustache girl's own sprint hat allowed her to catch up to them, as she wacked them through a glass window with her baseball bat.

The sandy streets were starting to fill with Nyakuza, as they just kept jumping out of manhole after manhole. There must have been a hundred cats on the surface by now, and they just kept coming. It almost seemed like it was raining manholes at this point! Ten cats all pounced at me, I ran underneath them, causing them to all crash into the house behind me. Yet five got up and jumped onto my back, as I didn't have enough time to avoid them.

Two scratched at my face as I cried out in pain. I closed my eyes and swung my umbrella at them all, getting them off of me, yet they weren't finished yet. One cat ran up to me, clawed paw at the ready, yet I used my Time Stop Hat to get a couple hits in until pons flew out of what used to be them. The other four attacked in unicent, jumping at me and going for the kill. Yet I was prepared for this, as I switched to my Brewing Hat and threw down a potion, making them all expload. As all four landed on top of it.

Yet they just kept coming, as I saw a group of twenty cats walking towards me bearing their claws. I knew that I couldn't fight them all off, it was way too dangerous! So I retreated, going into an alley and spotting a pair of Crows hiding in a dumpster. Due to the heat, they were proabbly roasting in there...But it's better than being cat food. I wall jumped on the sides of the alley, getting to a rooftop, hiding as I formed a plan.

We had to get rid of all these cats and save everyone they have captured in the Manholes. But how? Even if we somehow got down there and saved everyone, it's not like all these cats could just vanish back to the Metro...that's when it hit me. They were proabbly keeping the Time Pieces they stole from the Crows down there! So I needed to get down there and find my Time Peices to stop all this! But first, I needed to find Mustache girl.

Which honestly, was way easier than I thought it would be. Nyakuza were all screaming and shouting, as Mustache girl chased them all around the village, swinging the baseball bat and throwing money at them.

"Mustache girl!" I shouted from the rooftop, hoping she could hear me over all the shouting.

Luckily, she turned in my direction and waved.

"Hey kid! Check it out! They're all a bunch of babies! They won't even come NEAR me! I guess I'm just that important, they wouldn't even dream of laying a finger on me!" Mustache girl laughed to herself.

I was about to shout that they were apparently told not to attack her (a fact Mustache girl wasn't really considering), but I didn't notice the feline behind me as it sliced at me with it's claws, knocking me into the street below, pain surging through my back.

I landed in front of some more cats, who proceeded to ready clawed swipes of their own, when they all exploded into pons after being hit by a ball of exploding dollars. Mustache girl ran towards me, and helped me back up.

"Hat Kid, a-are you ok?! I didn't think you'd be snuck up on like that!" Mustache girl explained, dumbfounded.

I stood back up wrapping an arm around her for the sake of balance, as I used the other to point at a now uncovered manhole sitting in front of us.

"We have to get down there, they've got to be keeping the Time Pieces there!" I explained, rubbing my back.

Mustache girl nodded as she ran over to the manhole and took off the lid, letting me jump down first. I gave her a smile in thanks as I jumped into the darkness below, not knowing what to expect.

As the darkness disappeared, I found myself greeted my strange music as I saw that a train sat below me. I pulled out my umbrella before landing on the train, being pulled by an orange cat. I'm not exactly sure how all the Nyakuza members got UP the manhole but I didn't try to think about it too much. They proabbly climbed the walls or something.

"OW! What the heck!?" Mustache girl complained as she landed on the train face first.

I sprinted over to her, holding her in my hands as I inspected her face.

"Oh boy, did I break my nose or something?" Mustache girl joked, while still being slightly concerned.

I laughed it off though.

"No! There's nothing bad. Well, I mean, obviously there's never anything bad about your face...I MEAN BECAUSE YOU TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF, haha! Ha!...ha..." I nervously laughed at my comment, attempting to cover it up (look just because I'm not denying it to myself doesn't mean I'm going to tell her anytime soon).

Mustache girl looked away, messing with her hair as she stood up, twirling it between her fingers.

"Oh...thanks. There's...nothing bad about your face either. Or...about you. You're...such a great person Hat Kid..." Mustache girl complemented me, turning red.

I think I did the same in that moment, giving her a warm smile, before I saw her face turn white and wide eyed.

"LOOK OUT!" Mustache girl warned me, grabbing my hand and pulling me into the air as she jumped.

I looked past her once we landed back on the train, noticing she just helped me jump over a flamethrower attached to the wall. Right. Obstacles. Gotcha. There will be plenty of time for that other stuff later.

I turned around, facing the direction the train was going and noticed a neon sign heading right for our heads. We both ducked under it before seeing another one lower to the roof of the train. I jumped over it, yet Mustache girl wasn't fast enough and tripped on it, slamming her face into the train yet again.

"Oh come on! I jumped over that!" Mustache girl complained as she got up.

I giggled a little at this.

"Suuuuurrreeee you did." I told her rather smugly.

She glared at me, as we proceeded to jump in between two signs, and duck under another flamethrower.

"Look Hat Kid, you've had way more practice at this platforming thing than me! Besides, I'm much better at fighting! Aren't you forgetting when I had to save you from all those bad guys trying to scratch your face off?" Mustache girl explained.

After jumping over another flamethrower, I giggled in response.

"Fair enough, hehehe." I laughed lightly.

After dodging a couple more signs, some fire and jumping through a flaming hoop, the train appeared to be approaching a dead end. But some cat cleaning robots sat on the walls, which I knew exactly what to do with...Mustache girl did not.

"WAIT WHAT!? That's a WALL! Hat Kid, we messed up BIG time!" Mustache girl began breathing quickly as she placed her hands on her head in horror.

Rolling my eyes, I grabbed her hand and jumped onto a cleaning robot. It bounced me towards another, then another, then a fourth, before we landed on a platform with a door attached to the left wall. I noticed Mustache girl turn away from me as I hit her with a smug face.

"...sh-shut up..." Mustache girl weakly ordered me, causing me to just laugh.

Turning to face the door, we both proceeded to enter it. Inside was a large dark room, with the only things illuminating it being advertisements for various products made by these cats lining the walls. Speaking of which, the circular, black arena was surrounded by seats, all populated with Nyakuza members, egarly anticipating...something. There were hundreds of them! There was also a large TV screen in the arena, angled down towards the door we entered through.

I looked at Mustache girl for comfort, a little unsure and uneasy about what was going to happen.

"It'll be ok. Besides, you've got the toughest kid around with you, I'll smash all these kittens to mush and they won't even try to stop me!" Mustache girl showed off, drawing her baseball bat.

I pulled out my umbrella, smiling at her. We both stepped forward, as the TV in front of us switched to static. I titled my head, wondering just what the peck was happening. Mustache girl meanwhile was posing with the baseball bat towards the audience, who seemed to approve of this by cheering. In fact, she put on the Nyakuza ears and mask, making the crowd go crazy as she showed it off, throwing those 'dollar' things into the sky and blowing them up, entertaining the whole crowd.

"Mustache girl! They tried to kill me! Remember?" I whispered to her angrily, causing her to stop and take off the brewing hat.

"Oh uh, right. Sorry, got a little carried away there." She admitted, before pulling her tounge out towards the audience.

That's when the static of the TV faded, revealing a very familiar, very powerful cat on screen. She sat in a red, expensive looking chair, with a large red button on a desk she sat behind, with a gigantic window behind her showing off a the windmill? Not what I expected honestly. Hmm...where have I seen a windmill before...

"Hello little ones! It seems that yet again child, you have walked right into my claws. But this time, you're NOT making it out alive. And neither...," Empress pressed a large red button on her desk, "are they."

Upon pressing the button, bird cages fell from the ceiling of the arena, attached to it with long, grey, metal chains. They contained hundreds of Express Owls, Moon Penguins and Crows, who were all speaking over each other and shouting in a panic.

I placed my hands over my face, before glaring at Empress.

"What are you going to do with them? You monster!" I shouted at the screen.

Empress simply laughed, placing a hand on her chest.

"Oh child! I didn't know you were THIS bold! Talking back to me? My my, how much you've changed. Although, I shouldn't really take that as a surprise, due to how chatty you were with me back in Mafia Town." Empress laughed again.

Mustache girl stepped forward, pointing at the screen.

"Answer the question lady." She snapped grinding her teeth together.

Empress raised an eyebrow at this before continuing.

"Right...well, all these birds here will make for such delicious ingredients on our new and improved Metro Specials little one! Mmm, I've never had penguin before. Sounds delicious, doesn't it? Although, I am very interested in finding out if our chef will be able to cook that one...interesting looking bird." Empress explained, causing most of the birds in the cages to go silent.

Most of them.

"HEY! THERE'S NO WAY I'M LETTING SOME HAIR BALL TURN ME INTO STEW! LASSIE! YOU HAVE TO STOP THIS PECK NECK! SHE'S OUT OF 'ER MIND!" The Conductor yelled from the cage of Owls.

Empress scoffed before turning her attention towards Mustache girl.

"Yes. That bird. Nevermind him, THIS is where the fun begins! Girl with the mustache, or Mustache girl, if you will. I'd like to offer you a place here in my organisation. After all, you have expirence dealing with troublesome traitors like HER! Join me. And all you need to do...is kill Hat Kid. I'll give you the pleasure, since I'm so kind, I'll merely watch the carnage." Empress explained confidently, leaning back in her chair as the crowd roared in approval.

My head slowly made it's way over to Mustache girl. It felt like it was spinning. Mustache girl had just been asked...to k-kill me? I saw Mustache girl staring up at the screen in complete disbelief. She began shaking, but quickly stopped as she reached into her pocket and pulled out the Nyakuza mask and ears, holding the baseball bat in the other hand.

"Yes...there's a good girl. Don't worry, I'll give you your million once you're done little one. Now, paint this arena red! I want her to suffer every second you spend smashing her to pieces for what she did to me! No, to US! She betrayed us both Mustache girl! The selfish creature stole OUR Time Pieces!" Empress encouraged as she saw Mustahe girl raise the mask to her face.

No...She can't...She couldn't...could she? Was all of this a lie? Did Mustache girl...never care about me? Was she after the Time Pieces the whole time? Was that why she wanted to help me find them all? For her own gain? Was she only making alliances with people to get the most Time Pieces out of them?

I closed my eyes, unable to accept what was about to unfold in front of them. After everything I've done to help her...After the amount of times she's saved my life...After I started to have, f-feelings-

*CRASH* The sound of glass smashing echoed throughout the arena, as the audience gasped in horror. I opened one eye, fearing Mustache girl had just smashed all the bones in my body, and I'd find myself in a jar as nothing but a pair of eyes...I saw the baseball bat stuck in the TV, cracking the whole screen, causing parts to become perminantly static.

I shifted my eyes over to Mustache girl, as I saw her snap the cat ears in half, then rip up the Nyakuza mask, as it blew away in the wind. Mustache girl gave me a grin before turning back towards Empress, folding her arms. Meanwhile, I stood there with a wave of relief washing over me. She...she really did care about me. Despite the past, despite everyone on the planet shunning her because of me, despite that what appeared to really matter to her...was what we've done together.

"Listen here FREAK! You think I would EVER do that to Hat Kid? No way. HAT KID, is the BEST THING THAT'S EVER HAPPENED TO THIS PLANET! I'M *NOT* TAKING HER OUT OF IT! She's helped so many people, SAVED so many, SO WHAT if she backstabbed you? Give her a second chance you CREEP! She's more than just my friend," my heart began to flutter, "WE'RE THE CRIME FIGHTING TIME TRAVELLERS!"(Not what I'd hoped she'd say, but I was still beyond flattered)   
"SO HOW ABOUT YOU GET...GET...,"

Mustache girl looked at me for emotional support, looking uneasy about saying this last part. I gave her a wink before turning to Empress and shouting with Mustache girl.

"HOW ABOUT YOU, GET! LOST!" We shouted in together.

This whole speech from Mustache girl...everything about it made feel so...over the moon. No, the whole galaxy! It was so reassuring to know that ONCE just...once, I had someone on this planet who, when presented with the opportunity, wouldn't betray me. I couldn't thank her enough, honestly.

Cheering errupted from the bird cages, as they all shouted at Empress too.

"YEAH, THE KID'S RIGHT! GET LOST!" Moon Penguins shouted.

"GET LOST!...and please don't eat us." An Express Owl chimed in.

"GET LOST!" Crows ordered, glaring at the screen.

"GET LOST YOU NO GOOD, DIRTY PECK NECK!" The Conductor roared.

"THE LIL' DARLING IS RIGHT, SO GET OUTTA HERE AND GET LOST!" DJ Grooves screamed at her.

Empress jerked back in her seat, visibly shocked by the sudden resistance and uproar. She was at a loss for words as she looked down at Mustache girl, then to me, as her plan had clearly failed. Empress grimaced at the two of us, as Mustache girl put her arm around me, while we both tongues out at her, making a 'bleh' noise.

Empress frantically reached into her pocket, pulling out a remote of some kind, pressing a large purple button on it.

"ALL OF YOU LISTEN UP! If you don't want to tear her to pieces Mustache girl, then I suppose I'll get one of the experiments I've been prepearing to kill you both! Now if you excuse me, I have more important buisness to attend to, than to be yelled at by people who are about to die." Empress scoffed, as her screen turned off.

The room went silent as a new, fourth cage fell. This cage was swinging back and fourth, as whatever was in there slammed against the bars, grunting furiously. The cage lowered to the ground of the arena, before landing with a clang. The bars retracted back into the metal floor of the cage, as...a Goat stepped out.

This was no ordinary goat however. This one had red eyes, and was twitching in a crazed manor, as a purple gas floated around it's face. It also had a vast necklace around it's furry head, which was decorated...with many, many Time Pieces. Each of them glowing brightly across the Goat's chest.

The Goat charged at Mustache girl and I, as I rolled out of the way. Mustache girl however, didn't expect such a sudden burst of speed from such a massive creature and was nocked into the door we came from. To my horror, the Goat began charging at her once again.

Wasting no time, I equipped my sprint hat and charged at the goat holding the umbrella behind my head as I prepared to strike. Luckily, it had no idea I was sneaking up on it as I brought the umbrella down on it's head...only to be met with a loud squeaking sound. Wait...what!?

The goat turned instantly, diverting it's attention towards me as it picked me up, squeezing me tight in it's palm. I couldn't even take in any air from just how tight this grip was! The Goat threw me across the stadium, as I landed into a nearby wall, feeling my back crash against the concrete before I dropped to the floor.

The Goat charged at me, horns first, as I attempted to get up, yet my arms dropped me back onto the floor as I almost fell limp. Yet suddenly, I felt...slower. The area around me was tinted with a black and green, as I saw Mustache girl wearing her Time Stop Hat, run up to the goat and jump on it. Mustache girl, now without a weapon, resorted to punching the creature who's back she sat upon. Smacking it over and over and over...as it just squeaked, each and every time. 

"What the-?" Mustache girl questioned, looking down at her hands...as the time stop ran out.

The Goat flung Mustache girl high into the air, watching her fall to the ground as it lifted up it's leg. Yet before Mustache girl could be stomped by it's hoof, she rolled under it and punched it's back, only to be met with that very same squeaking noise.

The Goat turned, hitting her in the face with it's hand as she was once again nocked to the floor. This time, it didn't look like Mustache girl had the energy to get up as the Goat prepared to crush her with it's hooves.

Thinking quickly, I realised I had my Hookshot badge equiped, so I dug my heels into the ground and shot it at the Goat, using all my strength to pull it away.

It seemed like I did a little more than that though, as the Goat fell on it's back, still frantically squirming and twitching uncontrollably.

I used this opportunity to dash over to Mustache girl and help her up, standing her back on her feet.

"Thanks a lot kid. But what's going on? Why can't we deal any damage to this thing?" Mustache girl asked me.

I gulped as I glanced back at the goat, which began to get up.

"I don't know! We need some other way of defeating it!" Told her in a panic.

The Goat launched itself at us horns first, as we both just barely avoided it's charge. But it was more hasty for it's next attack, burying it's feet into the ground and turning, aiming for me. It began to charge at me, hoping to hit me with it's horns like some kind of bull. Luckily, I equiped my Time Stop Hat and ran out of it's range. But we couldn't just dodge forever, there had to be some way to beat this guy! Hmmm...my eyes became drawn to it's Time Piece necklace as an idea began to form in my mind.

"Mustache girl! Get close to the Goat!" I ordered her as the Goat turned to face me and started running.

She jumped ontop of me, pushing us out of it's way before we quickly got back up.

"Are you insane?!" She exclaimed.

"I have an idea!" I informed her impatiently, as the Goat ran my way once again.

This time though, it didn't try hitting me with it's horns. Instead, the Goat picked me up off the ground and threw me into the ground. I dashed away from it with my sprint Hat, as I looked back at it, giving chase. Yet I also saw Mustache girl running after it.

Praying I hadn't gone completely insane, I turned right and shot out the Hookshot from my umbrella, grabbing the Goat's foot and tripping it up.

"Mustache girl! Grab the necklace!" I ordered her.

Mustache girl seemed to finally understand what I was thinking. She slowed down time using her Time Stop Hat and launched herself on top of the Goat, pulling the rope necklace off of it, as well as all the Time Pieces. Just before the beast could get back up though, Mustache girl placed the necklace in one hand as she used the other to pry a Time Piece off of it, slamming it onto the ground, causing the whole room to be engulfed in a white light...


	10. Vanessa

p>The light around us slowly began to evaporate into the air, as I took my arm away from my eyes, seeing the land around me fade into view. The heat from the desert was still present, yet the sand on my shoes wasn't. I appeared to be stood in a parking lot, filled with bird branded cars, as well as Moon Penguins, Express Owls and Crows all running around and celebrating. They were proabbly thankful to get out of those cramped cages! And in front of me, sat a single movie studio, with a black, bird skull logo on the front of the building. Replacing the old western town the Nyakuza had created.

"Hat Kid! Hat Kid!" Mustache girl shouted excitedly.

I turned behind me, seeing an arm with a red sleeve raised above a large crowd of birds. That arm clutched the Goat's large necklace of Time Pieces, well, it was less of a necklace now and more of a large rope with Time Pieces tied to it.

Mustache girl and I pushed past the massive conglomerate of birds all gathered together in the parking lot. They cheered upon seeing me, raising their arms in the air, throwing their hats up sky high in approval.

"Kid! It's you, you saved us from that cat woman!" The Moon Penguins cheered.

"Woah! Kid, thank you so much! Now maybe I can get to work on time!" An Express Owl rejoiced.

"We, Time Piece theives wish to apologise for, causing, all of this." The Crows mumbled.

I made it to Mustache girl, as we placed our arms on each other's shoulders, jumping up and down in pure glee.

"Mustache girl you did it! You brought back Dead Bird Studio! You brought back our Time Pieces!" I applauded her.

Mustache girl placed her free hand behind her head, giggling nervously.

"Aw, are you kidding? You did all the cool stuff!" Mustache girl praised me.

"Well, sure I did SOME cool stuff! But you did so much cool stuff too! I can't thank you enough for...n-not joining her..." I nervously spoke, looking at the floor.

Mustache girl wrapped an arm around me, giggling as she did so.

"What? You thought I'd ACTUALLY help someone like that? And kill you? No way Hat Kid. Everything I do is gonna have your best interests in mind. I promise. And KILLING YOU? Hah! Heck no am I doing that, I care too much about you kid!" Mustache girl exclaimed, turning slightly red faced.

We both looked at each, my right arm resting on her shoulders, as she had her left on mine. We gave each other large smiles, giggling all the same. We completely forgot about the crowd around us. A crowd who was...cheering for Mustache girl?! Woah!

"Hey kid! You, with the mustache! YOU saved THE BOSS! We know you weren't great before, but now? You're better than great our books!" A Moon Penguin cheered, snapping their flippers as the others all applauded.

"Red kid! I'm a stunt Owl, and even I know that was crazy! You beat the peck out of that Goat!" An Express Owl praised her, as the others clapped along.

"We, C.A.W agents would like to take you off of our, 'most wanted criminals' list! Congratulations UGH UGH UGH!" The Crows spoke, pronouncing her name...well, how Crows usually pronounce things.

Mustache girl gazed around the crowd with stars in her eyes, as her mouth hung open. Looking back at me, then at the crowd, in utter disbelief.

"They-they-they're ch-cheering...for m-me?" Mustache girl exclaimed in awe, holding her hand out towards the crowd in shock.

I nodded, and gave her the biggest hug I'd ever given someone! Wrapping my arms tightly around her chest. She deserved all of this! Honestly, I was still in disbelief at how much she'd expanded her mindset during the months I hadn't seen her. But that, and being threatened with death, can do a lot to a person. I hate to think what would've happened if I never saved her back in Mafia Town. Heck, I don't even know if I'd be alive!

But that didn't matter. What mattered was where we were now. As I squezzed Mustache girl tightly, I felt all warm and fuzzy on the inside. Mustache girl rested her head on my shoulder, at peace, as the crowd roared in approval.

"Why Darling that is just beautiful!" DJ Grooves shouted over the crowd as she skated towards us on his oversized shoes.

I opened my eyes as I heard his voice, exploding with joy, more than I already was. Especially when I saw him slide towards Mustache girl and shake her hand rapidly.

"Darling I cannot thank you enough for everything you've done! I'm so glad you've put all that silly authoritarian dictator buisness behind you and become a HERO DARLING!" DJ Grooves praised her, causing the Moon Penguins to cheer in approval, more than they already had.

Mustache girl's eyes began to get a little watery at the mention of the word. Mustache girl looked to him, then at me as I gave her a huge smile and nodded. Her eyes darted to the crowd, who were all staring at her in gratitude.

"Y-you, you all...think I'm a...h-hero? R-really?" Mustache girl spoke with a shaky, doubtful voice, contrasted by the smile on her trembling face.

I walked over to Mustache girl and placed her other soft, warm hand in both of mine, causing her face to turn red, as I felt mine get warmer too.

"Mustache girl. Of course you're a hero. You helped save all these people! You did that. We did that. Honestly, I don't think I'd still be alive if it wasn't for you!" I praised her this time.

I noticed a single tear roll out of her right eye, as her smile only grew as she looked at me. I placed my hand on her shoulder as DJ Grooves finally stopped shaking Mustache girl's hand.

"Oi! I want a word with those lasses! Outta the way, outta the way!" The Conductor shouted as he pushed past the birds.

He stood in front of the two of us, as we stood in front of him as I noticed Mustache girl edge a little closer to me, while I did the same. Mustache girl gave me a smile with that red face of her's, while I did the same, feeling mine heat up in response.

"Honestly lass. I didn't expect this Mustached peck neck to turn over a new leaf like she has, but color me impressed! Yer both good kids. I'm just so happy you used the Time Pieces to bring it back to me, I don't know what I would do if it was gone for good!" The Conductor thanked us, with smiling in approval.

I placed my hands behind my back and began to sway, while I gave him a warm smile.

"No problem Conductor! Dead Bird Studio means a lot you, so I'm glad we were able to bring it back!" I exclaimed joyfully.

The Conductor scratched his head and shrugged his shoulders at this.

"Not the studio! Me train! Those furry nuisances could've eaten me alive for all I care, but the fact they got rid of The Owl Express! Now THAT is unforgivable! Oooohhhhh, I wish I could just stick it to that cat lass for DARRRRRING to touch me train!" The Conductor grimaced, clenching his feathered fists.

The rest of that day was spent at the studio, helping The Conductor and DJ Grooves set everything back up, making sure neither director would try to steal the other's awards in the process. They didn't, which was nice...Well, I'm sure they'd be back to fighting soon enough, since they already were arguing over who's props were who's, insulting each other, the works. Still, nothing they aren't used to I'm sure. But, they both actually offered Mustache girl and I parts in their up coming movies! Unfortunately, I had to decline. Since I wouldn't be around long enough on the planet to film all the scenes. Which really sucked. Seriously, DJ Grooves was gonna film a comedy with the two of us! A...romantic...comedy...with me...And Mustache girl...wait could DJ Grooves tell-

Whatever, Mustache girl and I had to leave after a while, since it was getting dark. So, after saying our goodbyes, we headed back up to the spaceship.

"Wow...What a day..." Mustache girl reminisced, pulling herself into the ship through the glass door in the window.

I hopped over to the vault, opening the hatch and grabbing the (former) necklace of Time Pieces from out of my hat, and placing it down onto the large pile in the vault. My hat is pretty handy at storing stuff!

I walked out, brushing off my hands, only to find Mustache girl waiting for me, bouncing on my burger cushion. I smirked at her, before running up to her and bouncing with her...as my heart bounced too.

After a bit of jumping around, we eventually got down and I watched Mustache girl land on the ground with a pose, eyes closed and arms outstretched, before she took a bow.

"Oh so I'M the smug one? Honestly, I don't think so." I chucked, landing next to her in a similar manor.

Mustache girl placed her arms behind her head and shrugged, yawning.

"Well, who says you're the only smug one." Mustache girl taunted me with a wink.

I saw in my ship's glass window that my face had turned a shade of pink at this. I don't know why! Is it because...Oh it is isn't it...at that moment, I was praying she couldn't tell.

That's when I felt her place a hand on my shoulder, causing that pink to only climb further up my face.

"You ok? Or are you just...literally staring off into space?" Mustache girl joked, as I turned my head towards her.

I gave her a anxious toothy smile, as I began to sweat a little.

"Nope! Well, yes. I mean, I'm just kinda tired. That's all. I'm sure you're pretty tired too right, miss hero? Hm?" I teased her, placing my hands on my hips and standing up straight.

Mustache girl thought back to the time we spent in Dead Bird Studio that day. I could tell, as she spaced out, while also staring at...well, space through my window.

"I still can't believe they think I'm a 'hero'. Seriously, after I tried judging them all...the whole planet...you..." Mustache girl sighed.

She then lay down on the floor, staring up at the ceiling with a frown, arms and legs spread out as she thought about all this.

I pouted upon hearing her say that. Why was she so insistent on thinking about that all the time?! She's changed! My attitude towards her has changed (to put it lightly)! All those birds have had their minds changed thanks to what she's done!

I walked up to her and looked down at her grumpily, still pouting with my arms crossed.

"Stop thinking like that! Seriously! Of course they think that! Because you ARE a hero Mustache girl!" I encouraged her, pulling her up from the floor.

Mustache girl looked into my eyes, as a small smile began to show itself on that face of her's beneath her mustache.

"Hat Kid...you...I'm a...I'm a...h-hero? Even after I was...I became...the...bad guy?" Mustache girl admitted, tearing up once again.

I placed my hands on her shoulders and simply nodded.

"No. Even after what...everyone said back there, I don't think you were the bad guy. You were just really, really misguided. And I couldn't be happier that you're absolutely, without a doubt, not like that anymore. You've saved so many people. You've saved my life multiple times at this point! Stop thinking you're the villain, because you are the furthest thing from that. Because I-...I-...I-...," ... ... ...

Come on Hat Kid. Just do it. Just TELL HER ALREADY! I thought to myself.

"I-...trust you. I trust you more than I've ever trusted anyone. I trust you with the Time Pieces, my life, everything! Mustache girl. Listen. I wouldn't be standing here right now if it weren't for you. Thank you, so much." I told her confidently.

...ok I didn't tell her. But, everything that I did was still absolutely true.

Mustache girl's smile had extended, to the point that she was smiling from ear to ear, while her eyes were welling up with tears. She threw her arms around me clutched my body tightly, even grabbing my arms in the embrace. Mustache girl's head rested on my shoulder, as tears began flowing out of her eyes uncontrollably.

"H-hat K-kid...Thank y-you...so m-much...y-you're my hero...I won't let you die, no matter w-what we come up against...or who...I-I'll take them down. I pr-promise...you saved my life after all...m-my hero..." Mustache girl sobbed into my shoulder, as my heart was pounding in every inch of my chest.

I felt tears begin to form in my eyes at that moment. Yet, I quickly wiped them away. Trading them for a soft smile as I looked down at her. Her. Mustache girl. She said she was willing to give her life...for me? As I closed my eyes while I continued to hold her, I felt a sense of determination in my chest. I would be willing to do the same.

Minute after minute passed, as we stood there in a hug, before (eventually), slowly let go of each other. As I stared at Mustache girl, as I clutched her hand and led her into my room, as I think we were both ready for bed...ok so we DID stay up talking most of the night, but we couldn't help it.

...

...

...

I found myself in a white void, walking around like I usually do in these dreams. Although this time, no Dweller approached me. Instead I found myself walking alone in the endless white vacuum...until snow started to fall. I skipped around the now icy landscape joyfully, hoping to make snow angles once the snow became thick enough. I reached out a finger into the sky, touching a snowflake. Strangely enough, this caused my whole finger to become trapped in an icy shell. The snowflake...froze it?

"Hey kiddo, quickly! Over here!" The Snatcher encorauged from behind me.

Snatcher flew above the ground, holding a comically oversized purple umbrella, with his yellow smiling face on top of it. I noticed the snow piling up on the ground, despite the chilly weather only occurring seconds ago.

I ran over to Snatcher, covering my face with my arm as my hat stopped the snowflakes from hitting the top of my head. He only seemed to get further and further away as I ran towards him. By the time I actually reached him, I looked down at my arm and saw it had become completely frozen in a thick, deep blue ice.

"That's not good kiddo. Here, let me fix that up for you. It's what best friends are for!" Dream Snatcher told me with an uncharacteristicly positive attitude.

Snatcher lit his right hand on fire with an incinerating blue flame, brining it towards my own frozen right arm. The ice slowly began to melt, as water began dripping onto the floor beneath us. The water twinkled, as light from the burning claw glisened onto it. In its reflection it showed me, and me alone.

Snatcher looked down at his reflection, before turning to me with a frown, which looked pretty odd on The Snatcher.

"Listen kid, now that I've thawed out your arm and everything, how would you like to make a little deal? It's only fair I get something in return. Besides, you wouldn't just give your best buddy the cold shoulder, now would you?" Snatcher interrogated me, staring at me with a piercing golden gaze.

I grabbed his now flame-less hand with both of mine, feeling that arctic cold emit from it as I began to shiver.

"Of course. Anything for you pal!" I smiled at Snatcher confidently, spying my breath in front of me as I spoke.

A could of blue(?) smoke flew in front of me, as it just as quickly began to evaporate into thin air. The smoke revealed a contract floating before me, with a feather pen at it's side. Picking up the piece of paper and grabbing the pen, I began to read the legal document.

"Change Vanessa. Change Vanessa. Change Vanessa. Change Vanessa. Change Vanessa." The contract read.

Strangely enough, these words weren't in the Snatcher's usual, formal hand writing. They were scribbled on, like he wrote it in a hurry. After gulping down my fear, ignoring the sweat dripping down my face despite the cold, I signed the paper, before it vanished.

"You better do it kiddo." Snatcher ordered me.

I was a little taken aback by the abruptness of this statement, yet thought nothing of it. Instead, a new thought invaded my subconscious mind.

"Snatcher...I-...I still...I still don't know what I'm going to tell her. I've told you what she to me last time! Chasing me throughout her manor, without so much as even wanting a conversation! At least everyone in the past has told me WHY they want me dead. Sure, I'm not sure I would've replied, but an attempt could've been made on her end! I just...I don't want her hurting me...Or...Mustache girl..." I admitted, staring down at the ground, hanging my head low.

Snatcher slowly lifted up the arm that didn't clutch the umbrella, stretching out a single finger towards a rectangular shape in the distance.

"If you don't know what to say, you might as well sign this one. It'll make things a lot easier for you." Snatcher explained with a vast, foreboding grin.

Snatcher and I made our way over to the shape in the fog, as the umbrella covered me from the ghastly snowflakes, which threatend me with a frosty tomb. After a while of stumbling around in the fog, feeling the snow and ice beneath my feet, I finally made it to...another contract?

"Bring me back to life. Bring Vanessa back to her old self. Bring Subcon Forest back to it's former glory. I'll be keeping the following hostage: one Time Piece. But keep anything you find along the way!" The contract read.

I dropped it to the floor, shaking. I also fell to frost covered ground at that moment, out of complete shock. I looked to my left at Snatcher, seeing no ghost in sight. I was about to get back up and look for him, when a snowflake hit my hand, freezing it to the floor. I attempted to pry it away from the tundra-like landscape, but to no avail. Not even my strength was enough, as it felt like it was being sapped away from my body.

"What's the matter kiddo? Why won't you sign the paper? You don't ENJOY seeing me in this form, do you? You don't ENJOY watching me SUFFER, day after day, night after night? Do you? But, if you didn't, then you'd just sign away that Time Piece." Snatcher explained bitterly as he came into new through the fog, no longer carrying that purple umbrella.

He floated towards me with a scowl, rubbing his hands together like he usually did, with the contract in between them. As I stared at him, I felt more and more snowflakes his my body. My legs and chest now perminantly fixed onto the ground. It seemed as if the only parts of my body that weren't, was my head and arm. And My hand. To write with.

I jerked my off of the ground as best I could, while pointing at him with a stern expression.

"Snatcher, I've told you I can't do that! Don't you remember? You know it's too dangerous! Why do you even still love her anyway? She KILLED you! SHE is the reason you're stuck like this, not ME!" I shouted through grinded teeth.

I saw Snatcher begin to smile then, as his face...melted? It dripped down his body, as the purple and black substance that made him his ethereal form. The rest of his body followed, as if me saying that to him had killed the already dead being. He dropped the floor, as I noticed two purple limbs sprout from what used to be his tail. The bottom of the limbs extended outwards slightly, becoming...shoes? In fact, his body seemed to morphing into an expensive, high class looking suit. While hair began to emerge from his smaller purple head. The man's eyes and mouth were shut...that is, until they opened, revealing his usual yellow eyes and crooked grin as this twisted version of his former self stood before me.

"And Vanessa will kill you too." The being spoke in a deranged mix of a human, and Snatcher-like voice, coming out as a garbled mess resembling neither.

...

That's when I shot my head up from the pillows, causing them to fly in the air before landing back onto the mass below me. I pulled both of my arms out of the pillows and frantically looked down at my hands, as I inhaled and exhaled rapidly. There wasn't a trace of ice to be found. Wait, I pulled both arms out?

I looked to my right, then my left, finding no Mustache girl. I looked behind me next, spying no one gazing out into space.

"Uhhh, good morning kiddo? You're awfully jumpy today." Snatcher remarked.

I turned to face the bed, spying Snatcher and Mustache girl on the edge of my bed together. Snatcher held a book in his hands, as it's title was obscured by his clawed fingers. Meanwhile Mustache girl was glanced at the pages contents, before looking back to me with her usual toothy smile and an adorable little wave~

I waved back, smiling myself, feeling comforted at the sight of these two getting along...While the memory of the nightmare sat deep within my subconscious mind, unearthing itself whenever my gaze drifted to Snatcher.

"What's up kiddo? Had some bad dreams? You don't realise it now, but you're lucky. You can dream, and sleep! Anyway, you talk to me about it if you want. Since I want your head to be nice and clear for our big day today!" Snatcher encouraged, patting a space on the bed next to him. 

I shook my head, since I was pretty sure he wouldn't enjoy hearing the nightmare's contents. So, I just climbed out of the pillow fort, while I noticed Mustache girl nudge Snatcher and look down at the small pink book in his hands.

"Oh right. Hey kid! Want to hear what we've been reading together? I'm sure you'll be interested, that's for sure!" Snatcher seemingly taunted her.

Mustache girl jumped on his head for a boost, as she (ironicly) snatched the book away from The Snatcher and tucking it away in her robe upon hitting the floor, presumably near her journal.

"Hahaha...ha, a-actually I don't think she'd really be um, i-interested." Mustache girl gulped, pulling her hood over her face as she laughed shakily.

I jumped onto the bed inbetween them, pulling them both close to me, feeling warmth on one side of my body and frigid cold on the other. I smiled over at Mustache girl, trying to avoid Snatcher's gaze as it just made me have a slight, pit in my stomach when looking at him.

"Of course I'm interested! I love how you're getting along so well! So, do you like reading too or something?" I questioned, wondering what they could have in common.

Mustache girl began laughing nervously again as she looked back at Snatcher then to me, avoiding eye contact with me.

"Uh huh, yup exactly! I-uh, l-um read a lot of books! D-defiently!" Mustache girl informed me.

I raised an eyebrow, not really believing her, yet still nodding. I decided to turn back to Snatcher, since I heard some slight cackling from him. I noticed him placing a hand over his face, in an attempt to hide the laughter. I saw him reach over to Mustache girl, while I followed his hand that lifted up her hood ever so slightly, reavling an extraordinarily red Mustache girl.

"Wha-HEY!" Mustache girl slapped his hand away as she pulled her hood back over her face as she got up from the bed.

The kid got up from the bed and ran out of the room, shouting over to me.

"I'm going to have breakfast now bye!" Mustache girl quickly told me as she ran off.

I stared back at Snatcher, completely clueless as I saw him float into the air as he errupted in laughter.

"HAHAHA! OHHHH, that kid is great! Welp, I say you should go join her for breakfast. It'll give you something to warm up a bit before the rest of today." Snatcher encouraged me.

I didn't respond, hanging my head low and slouching. I felt my contractually obligated best friend's hand on my shoulder, it's cold touch immediately recognisable. He placed a claw beneath my chin as he gently moved my head to face him, noticing my slight frown.

"Don't worry kid. If there's anyone that can help her, it'll be you. I just know it." Snatcher told me, giving me a smile different to the one he usually had.

I smiled back, holding his hand despite it's severe lack of heat as we walked through the door, while Snatcher lowered his head so he could fit into the hallway.

After Mustache girl and I ate breakfast, I looked out the window, praying a new location had appeared on the planet...but there was none. Mafia Town, Dead Bird Studio and Subcon Forest were the only loctaions that weren't surrounded by that blinding white light, which meant that I'd...have to go see Queen Vanessa, since there weren't any higher priorites I had to deal with...

Snatcher teleported the three of us down into Subcon Forest once Mustache girl and I had gathered all our hats. She had to grab a spare Brewing Hat, settling for my pink and white witch hat. I'm pretty sure she missed the Nyakzua ears and mask despite everything that happened down in the depths of the desert...plus they looked really...cute on her...

Still, I'd get her a new one, as well as a new baseball bat once we visited the Nyakuza Metro. Since right now, she didn't exactly have a weapon other than her fists. But still, she was tough! Well, I think she is anyway. Her fists would be fine. It's not like she'd need to punch anything today, since this was going to be all about helping a mean old lady become a nice person!...I hoped...

Snatcher had teleported us in front of the gates to the manor, as the frigidness of this forsaken place hit Mustache girl and I immediately. Our breath appearing in front of us, even while we rubbed our hands against our arms in a futile attempt to banish the frost.

"Hey uh, Snatcher? Why did you bring us here anyway? You said you used live here? Or something? And there's a woman in there you love? Isn't this stalking? I'm not sure she'd find that attractive." Mustache girl told him honestly.

Snatcher other hand, was gazing at the manor in awe. He picked up some snow from the ground and let it fall through his pair of fingertips. Snatcher ran his hand along the slightly rusted, iron gate which lead into a former courtyard.

"Wow...she...hasn't exactly looked after the place. Anyway, kid listen. Right now, my dear Queen Vanessa is feeling terrible! Because her love, was killed! And she's become a rather...COLD PERSON SINCE THEN!" Snatcher joked, making light of the situation.

Mustache girl looked at me, as I did to her, somewhat awkwardly at the poorly timed pun.

"Oh what? That was funny! Vanessa would've laughed at that...but seriously, your buddy over her, Mustache girl has helped us both out for the better. So, I'm hoping she can do the same for my Vanessa. That make sense?" Snatcher explained to Musatche girl.

She nodded slowly, although I doubted she knew what I was going to do to help Vanessa. Still, we began walking towards the manor in the freezing weather, while snow rained down onto us as we neared the frozen lake, the lights in the manor had just come into view. I felt body tense up upon viewing it again. Last time, I had no idea what I was getting into. This time? Well, I more than knew.

Which is when I felt a snow get launched into the back of my head, nocking my hat forwards a little as snow coated my ponytail. I turned, only to find a shivering Mustache girl, clutching a second snowball, smiling with her usual cocky attitude.

I reached into the ground to pull out some more snow, pulling some out and forming a spherical shape in the palm of my hands...as a second snowball wacked me in the face. It caused me to lose my balance, falling on my back into the snow with a thud.

"Pffftttt, oh you didn't see that coming now did you? Hahaha!" Mustache girl laughed, clutching her chest.

I got up with a sense of urgency, pulling a large mass of snow from the ground using my strength, forming a snowball larger than the rest we'd thrown (or not thrown in my case). I chucked it at her face this time, causing Mustache girl to fall on her back, getting a face full of snow, which fell off as she got back up.

"Ew, I think some went in my mouth! Oh you are gonna get it!" Mustache girl coughed the snow out of her mouth, visually disgusted.

I saw Mustache girl lean down and begin creating some more snow in her hands. But luckily, I remembered to put on my sprint hat as I had already created another large ball of snow! Which I proce-

"Hey kids! We've got time for games later! Now stop messing around and help me out a little here!" Snatcher shouted from across the icy lake.

Mustache girl and I gave each other determined glares, declaring an unspoken truce until we'd spoken to Queen Vanessa. The three of us made our way to the front of the manor, as Snatcher glared at the statues guarding it.

"Yeah, these are fakes." Snatcher muttered to himself.

With a snap of his fingers both statues were engulfed in a purple fog, before being replaced by two angle statues (that actually had heads this time). Mustache girl titled her head, likely wondering why Snatcher did that, while I gazed up at the former man in awe.

"How did you know that? How can you tell?" I asked out of surprise, thankful I wouldn't have to re-encounter them.

Snatcher placed an arm around me and pointed to the real ones that stood before us.

"Take it from me kid, once you've been here as long as I have, you'll start to notice liiitttle details when something is off. I hope I'll be able to teach you more about my forest at some point kiddo." He explained, taking his arm away before I would actually freeze to death.

Honestly? I hoped he would too! I'd live to hear all the stories someone like him has to tell!...I doubted I'd be able to hear them all though...

I clutched Mustache girl's hand tightly as we crept towards the front door, where Snatcher was already, as smiled at us with a grin larger than ever before.

"Alright kid. Here's what I need you to do. Be nice, polite, tell her she's beautiful. Next, explain how I'm her prince and that there's nothing to be sad about! I'm sure she's just devastated! But tell her that, work your magic and I'll have her back in no time! You got all that?" Snatcher informed me.

I took note of every word, as Snatcher cleared the snow out from in front of the door, allowing it to open. I took a deep, visible breath (thanks to the temperature), closed my eyes and nocked at the wooden entrance to the manor.

The response wasn't immediate...but there certainly was a response.

"Oh it is just so LOVELY to have a visitor! I don't get many anymore, I'll be with you in just a miiiinnnuuuttteee~" Queen Vanessa responded in a sing-song voice from another room in the manor.

Mustache girl glanced at me, and smiled, at ease. Which was...odd?

"Well she doesn't sound so bad! I thought someone living out in the middle of nowhere would be a lot creepier honestly." Mustache girl admitted cheerily.

I was going to respond. To tell Mustache girl, just how incredibly wrong she was. To explain how completely absurd saying that about someone like Queen Vanessa was!...When the crashing footsteps on the other side of the door, approaching hastily as they scurried across the floor made me lose my train of thought. It sounded almost animalistic, like you were waving fresh meat in front of a bear.

I gave Mustache girl a wide eyed glance, titling my head behind me as I urged her to stay back. The two of us took steps back, letting go of each other's hand as I brought out my umbrella, just in case.

Snatcher took note of this and picked me up by the cape, placing me in front of the door while the stomping on the other side was louder than ever. He patted my hat, and stole my umbrella, throwing it out into the snow as it got stuck in some near the lake.

"Now we can't have that! We don't mean her any harm kid! Now, she's almost here, so get ready and put in the good word for me!" Snatcher encouraged, placing his hands on my shoulders while he pushed me towards the door.

Before I could object, I saw the door knob twist and turn with a clear sense of urgency that told me it was too late to get out of this now...but not having my umbrella with me definetly made me feel a lot worse about this. My umbrella was comforting, you know? It gave me a sense of security that I now lacked.

The door violently crashed inwards, as a clawed hand opened it. Queen Vanessa stood before me, looking down into my eyes with her's. Their sharp, red gaze slicing through any courage I may have had inside of me.

"V-v-vanessa? H-h-hi, I th-think y-you should t-try and b-be a g-good p-person a-a-and-," but before I could finish, Queen Vanessa grabbed me by the arm holding me up to her eyes.

"YOU! You're the little home invader you stole that precious, beautiful hourglass from me I had stored in my attic! How DARE you have the nerve to come back here! For THAT I'll turn you into one of my dear statues, THEN I'll peel off each frozen limb and mount them on a wall in every last one of my rooms, you PEST!" Vanessa roared, as her grip only tightened on my arm.

I saw as she stared at me, my feet had slowly began to feel...a l-lot c-c-colder than b-before. I looked down, not wishing to be blinded by her glare any longer. That's when I saw that my shoes had began to become encased in ice! Oh no...

I punched at her arm, yet it had little to no affect, causing me to hurt my hand as I hit the rough void she called skin. That's another thing. If Snatcher's hands felt cold, then it felt like every second I spent near this woman was spent at the arctic!

When I felt as if all hope was lost, I felt Snatcher pull me away by the cape, placing me down behind him, extending an arm in front of me, as if defending me.

"Alright Vanessa dear, now listen. She was just taking back what belonged to her. Now, I know you two have gotten off on the wrong foot, so allow me re-introduce myself to you darling." Snatcher explained to her, in an attempt to calm her down.

Vanessa took a step forward and pointed a sharp, clawed finger nail at his spectral chest.

"Oh I know EXACTLY who YOU are spirit! You've been sending your little minions into MY home, stealing items that once belonged to MY! PRINCE! His favourite chair, his feathered pens, even his closet! NOW STEP AWAY THIS INSTANT!" Vanessa screamed, taking another step forward.

Snatcher gave her a dumbfounded look as Mustache girl stood at my side, gazing at the two in confusion. I mean...we did actually exchange words this time, rather than it just be her taunting me in an attempt to kill me...So that was...something?

"Sheesh, being cooped up in that house for so long really has made you lose some of your manners. Tell you what, the kid has something to tell you! Then, I'm sure all of this will make perfect sense Vanessa! Well, kid? What do you have to say to the nice lady?" Snatcher asked, as Vanessa only grew more agitated as she ran her claws down the sides of the open door in a fit of rage.

I stepped back and gulped, with Mustache girl taking a step forward, looking back at me with a small smile, although, I could tell from her constant glancing back at Queen Vanessa, she was just as terrified as I was.

"Well, um, y-you see. The Snatcher here is um, a-actually...your prince." I finally got out, tensing up as I feared her reaction.

Although strangely enough...She didn't react. No violent outburst at me. Huh...maybe that was enough? Queen Vanessa turned back to Snatcher, squinting at him, before turning back to me. Queen Vanessa gracefully walked towards me, as I began to back away, yet Snatcher shook his head as he smiled at the two of us.

Queen Vanessa lay her dagger-like fingers onto my shoulder, titling her head as she gazed at me with the blood red glow from her eyes.

"My...Prince? My dearest? That's really him? Why child. It appears as if I have misjudged you! You are no mere theif sent by this man! You...ARE A LIAR!" Vanessa shrieked, moving her head closer towards my face as she did so.

This time, she didn't exactly take the approach of freezing me, instead she slashed her claws into my chest launching me away from the manor and onto my back, into the snow below as I crashed down. Everything hurt. Every bone in my body was aching, my chest oozed pure agony.

"DON'T YOU DARE TOUCH HAT KID FREAK!" Mustache girl shouted, jumping into action.

Mustache girl sprang into the air, holding a fist behind her head. As she was about to swing her punch right into Vanessa's face, The Snatcher grabbed her in mid air and threw towards me. I caught her, as we both gazed at each other, completely perplexed.

"Listen kid, I like you and everything but you are NOT touching this woman! She was the love of my life, and I'M NOT OUT HERE, TRYING TO ATTACK YOURS!" Snatcher bellowed at Mustache girl.

I placed her down onto the ground shooting Snatcher a confused glance. Yet, his gaze at us was stopped when Queen Vanessa grabbed him by the left arm, looking into his yellow eyes.

"The love of your life? Why, I am flattered! It's been a long time since someone's called me that dear." Queen Vanessa told him, speaking softer than usual...well, soft would be an incredibly generous way to describe it, but it was nicer than she usually sounded.

"Why Vanessa dear, of course you were. You can be my love in this life too. Sure we can't exactly, be parents anymore, but hey! That's more time out of eternity spent with me! And that's what you always wanted, right? No tutors, no flowers, no law school. Just us. Forever." Snatcher persuaded her as he wrapped his free arm around her.

Queen Vanessa stared at this gesture, even more perplexed than Mustache girl and I.

"Why...Mr.Snatcher, was it? It is true that there was once a man I wanted to settle down with forever. With no law school...flourists or tutors, in his way. But that man is DEAD, AND YOU SPIRIT ARE NOT HIM! YOU SOUND NOTHING LIKE HIM, YOU LOOK NOTHING LIKE HIM AND HE *CERTAINLY* WOULDN'T HAVE BROUGHT A CHILD HERE TO TALK FOR HIM, LET ALONE TWO! NOW DIE HERE A SECOND TIME YOU FOOL!" Queen Vanessa shrieked in his face.

Vanessa clutched Snatcher's arm tighter...As it began to freeze. Ice began to form around the centre of his arm, making it's way towards The Snatcher's hand, elbow and further down the arm. I looked at Mustache girl for a sense of direction for when it came to what to do, yet her eyes were wide in surprise as body shook with pure fear. As mine did the same.

This marked this first time I had ever seen The Snatcher so...completely at a loss for what to do. As his mouth hung open, he tried floating away yet he couldn't leave her grasp. I doubt he wanted to simply teleport away either, since he still attempted to reason with her.

"V-vanessa! Darling I *AM* The Prince! Don't you s-see? D-don't...recognise me?" Snatcher questioned her, as a combination of sadness and disbelief filled his words.

Vanessa merley scoffed.

"How DARE you impersonate him! I don't believe for a second that you are the man I loved! Now join my collection!" Vanessa spat at him.

I knew I had to do something, anything to get her attention! I had to save Snatcher before his attempts to change her himself got him killed a second time! I threw on my Sprint Hat as I charged forward, then I jumped into the air and again switched to my Brewing Hat, throwing at potion at Queen Vanessa. The queen let go of The Snatcher, as she scratched at the black mar on her face left by the potion. Vanessa was thrown back into the manor by the blast, and Mustache girl was right behind me, slamming the door shut and using her Time Stop Hat to throw more and more snow in front of the door, until she was compelety barricaded inside.

Mustache girl held out her hand for a high five, which I accepted. We...didn't die! Hooray! My feet were still cold though...

"We did it! Oh, thank goodness everyone's ok! Right guys!" I rejoiced.

Mustache girl nodded her head in agreement with her usual toothy grin, and I looked over at Snatcher who was gazing at his frozen arm, then looking at the environment around him. An environment destroyed by his former soulmate.

"She did this...to me...she didn't...even know me anymore..." Snatcher muttered to himself, gazing down at his arm once again.

I walked over to Snatcher, hovering in the air as he gazed at his lack of a reflection in the ice's surface.

"Snatcher? Listen, I know we weren't able to-," yet I was cut off by The Snatcher.

"ARRRGGGGGHHHHH!" The Snatcher roared, to the sky, converting his sadness into complete rage.

He punched his frozen arm, breaking it free from it's icy prison. Next, he began shooting various multi-colored lasers up from the ground around him, as they launched themselves into the sky before disappearing. Snatcher looked down at Mustache girl and I with a scowl, then back at the manor with a larger one, before flying off, deep into the forest.

"Snatcher wait up!" I shouted to him, running through the snow towards the phantom.

Yet, he had already vanished into the sea of trees by the time I had made it to the statues. But I still needed to peruse him, I wasn't going to let Queen Vanessa ruin everything I had been trying to teach him about being a good person these past, four? Five months? Maybe more? The exact amount didn't matter, but what did was that I had been desperately attempting to get this poor soul to be better for so long now, and I wasn't letting him go back to square one!

I dug my hand into my pocket, pulling out the scooter badge. I switched to my sprint hat, as one golden scooter appeared underneath me.

"Hop on." I told Mustache girl, turning to her next to the statues.

She jumped on, and would've proabbly gushed over this ability, since I'd never actually shown it to her before (which is criminal, I know). But, this wasn't the time for that.

After finally teaching Mustache girl what the Dweller Mask did to get out of Vanessa's Manor, we hopped over the bridge, wondering where Snatcher could've flew off to, when we saw some birds fly away from the burning part of the forest. I drove the scooter over to it as quickly as possible, in a desperate attempt to make sure he wasn't about to change for the worse after seeing the state of his beloved. We found him in front of the burning house here, where a piece of yarn used to sit on top of, before I picked it up of course.

There was a minion on a nearby treestump, watching Snatcher as he scratched at trees and nocked them down in a fit of pure anger. He shot lasers at branches, which usually ended up nocking down four or five trees due to the magnitude of the blast.

"The boss usually comes here to let off some steam, but he looks pretty upset today. More than usual. Did that red girl do something to him?" The minion asked us curiously.

I shook my head, as did Mustache girl as we got off the scooter and ran towards Snatcher, hovering far above the ground.

"Snatcher! Come down here, we want to talk to you buddy!" I shouted up at him, placing my hands around my mouth.

He jerked his head down at the two of us, with a scowl once again. Still, he flew down towards us both quickly, looming over us.

"What was that!? She tried to kill me! ME! HER PRINCE! SHE DOESN'T EVEN RECOGNISE ME ANYMORE!" Snatcher shouted at us both, shooting a laser over our heads and at the ten burning trees behind Mustache girl and I.

I rubbed the back of my neck, not knowing how to respond.

"Well...We just have to...get her to remember! Somehow..." I weakly told him.

Snatcher floated to the ground, staring through my eyes and at my very soul.

"And how do you plan on doing that, kiddo?" Snatcher sarcastically responded.

I backed away a little, tugging at my collar. Mustache girl noticed this when she looked back at me. She turned to Snatcher, and took a deep breath, clenching her fist at him.

"Listen here, YOU are being WAY too hard on her! She obviously can't change your crazy, phsyco wife's opinion in a day y-," yet Snatcher shook his head, ignoring her.

"Didn't we tell you to get lost? I'd like to revisit that. Get lost." Snatcher calmly responded.

Mustache girl had all color drain from her face upon hearing those words again, as her fist began to quiver in the air. This time, I stepped in front of Mustache girl, clenching my fists at my sides.

"HEY! Shut up, don't talk to her like that!" I ordered him.

Snatcher shrugged his shoulders sarcastically.

"Fine. Might as well not speak to her at all then." Snatcher replied ominously.

Snatcher then reached behind me and picked up Mustache girl. He threw Mustache into a large, burning tree with little hesitation. She slid down the tree, crying out in pain until hitting the floor. That's when the tree began to crack near the stump, as the force of the impact, combined with flames behind it sent the plant crashing down...towards Mustache girl.

I equiped my Sprint Hat, running over to her before diving under the collapsing tree, just barely grabbing her in my arms as the tree came crashing down behind us both.

"Mustache girl! Are you ok?!" I asked in horror as she breathing slowed.

Her eyes flickered open, as she clutched her chest, attempting to form a weak smile.

"Y-yeah...just a-OUCH! Ok, it hurts...a lot...But I'll live...so, don't cry..." Mustache girl spoke with a shaky voice.

She reached a hand forward, towards my face wiping away tears on my face. But, that didn't stop me from crying. After everything. After all that work to get him to change...He attacked Mustache girl...

Mustache girl fainted then. She was still breathing, she just, passed out. That's when I felt his cold presence walk up from behind me, but I wasn't having any of it anymore. I was sick of him. I turned to him, with tears in my eyes as I clutched Mustache girl.

"Get away from me! Snatcher, you're a monster! You know how I feel about Mustache girl! How could you do that to her?! I TRIED helping Vanessa, ok? But just because she doesn't recognise you, doesn't give you the right to harm people! I can't work miracles! How many times do I have to say that I was only able to help you after MONTH, after MONTH after month, after month of talking to you, being NICE to you! Doing your STUPID death wishes, just to make you HAPPY! Snatcher. You make me sick." I shouted at him, looking away from my former friend.

I was about to run away too, right then and there...where Snatcher said something I never thought I'd hear from him.

"...I'm sorry, kiddo. I-...You're right. Mustache girl, was right. You both were." Snatcher admitted.

I turned back to face him, as I heard him out. Despite my surprise, I still wasn't entirely sure if he wasn't going to try and kill us again.

"Listen, I wasn't thinking straight kid. I realised how nice you were being to me after I...killed you. And you know what? I regret that more than anything. In the living world or this one. You're both right. I can't just expect you to change someone's mindset in the span of one conversation. It's impossible. And...It might just be impossible to change Vanessa. No matter how many times you try, I think she's too far gone kiddo...But you know isn't? Mustache girl. You two are a team, you work great together. She's told me. Have faith in her kid, it's not misplaced. As for me?...I'm too far gone as well..." Snatcher told me honestly, as he looked down at the pair of us.

He began floating away, with his head hung low. I stared at him, then back at Mustache girl, then back to Snatcher. I placed Mustache girl down on a tree stump, before running over to Snatcher and tugging at his hand. He turned around, raising an eyebrow at me.

"No you're not. If you realised that Snatcher...I think you can be different. Just...please, try your best to change. I can't make someone change all on my own, they have to actively want to. So please, I know that deep down. Deep, deep in that ghost body, there is a good person in there. We just have to let him out. Could you help me do that? Please?" I asked him hopefully, smiling up at him as I squeezed his cold hand.

Snatcher looked on in awe, as I saw...a tear in his eye? I...didn't even know ghosts could cry.

"I will kiddo. No doubt about it. I hope we can find this good person we're looking for. And I'm going to try my best to find 'em. No more pestering you about Vanessa either. It's my buisness, and I'll deal with it. She's irredeemable, sure...But I can't stop loving her. Nothing will stop that. But you shouldn't concern yourself with it. Now, what do you say kid? How about we go back up to your spaceship and play one of those video game things you like?" Snatcher offered, with a warm, thankful smile.

I nodded giving him a warm, comforting hug.

"I'd like that...But Snatcher? Nobody is irredeemable. Vanessa is like you, she was proabbly good at...some point. Sure she became really obsessive once you left for law school...But there was a point where she was, genuinely, a good person. I don't know when, but at some point, some day I'll help her...for your sake." I told The Snatcher.

He looked down at me, as the tear fell from his eye while we picked up Mustache girl, who woken up a few minutes prior, yet was still gathering her strength.

"Come on guys, let's go." I told them both, as Snatcher snapped his fingers, teleporting us all back to the ship...


	11. Return to The Metro

In a cloud of thin, purple fog, the trio of Snatcher, Mustache girl and myself were all teleported back on board my spaceship.

"Alright kiddo, so how do you even play those video game things? And does it require more than two fingers?" Snatcher questioned, floating away from me and placing down Mustache girl, who's eyes were fluttering open.

Snatcher hovered besides my TV, picking up a controller and poking a couple button, moving around the analog stick in a circular motion and attempting understand their functions. He had watched me play video games before, but when I'd offered him a controller he'd always turn me down. Saying he had better things to do. Still, I'm glad he was making an effort to be nice again, which I offered a show of my appreciation through a cheerful smile at him.

Meanwhile, I noticed Mustache girl rubbing her back as she sat up from the rug, glancing to her right towards me, with a weak smile. She was likely still gathering her energy after all.

"H-hey Hat Kid. I heard what Snatcher said to you back in the forest. Um...make sure he doesn't go attacking one of us again. I know he's sorry and everything but," Mustache girl leaned in for a whisper, "What if he's lying?"

I shook my head. Snatcher wasn't a liar! He just never tells the full truth!...Wait that doesn't make anything better. Well still, he did sound pretty genuine back there in Subcon.

"Listen. He's not our enemy anymore. He wouldn't do that...I think. But look, this is his last chance ok. If he does anything evil towards us, that's it. I-...I don't know if I can take anymore of it at this point." I sighed, looking down towards the floor in disappointment.

"I'm right here you know." Snatcher snarkily remarked, leaning on the TV with his arm.

Mustache girl got up from the ground, looking away from him and backing away slightly. I exhaled at this, before looking over to Snatcher once again as he continued.

"Look, I'm not asking you to trust me kid. I don't deserve it. But, I just want you to know I've got no plans to kill either of you and take your souls! Unless, you were offering, of course." Snatcher sarcastically suggested.

Mustache girl and I exchanged a tense glance, gulping. Yeah...that wasn't a very well timed joke, it seemed like Snatcher wasn't as funny as I first thought, huh? Our gaze shifted to Snatcher once more as he folded his arms and rolled his eyes.

"Oh come on, I was kidding! Look. I promise I'm going to be better, kids. But that won't stop me when it comes to fighting you in this video game! So, teach me how to play!...Because if you don't, well, that's just rude isn't it?" Snatcher once again remarked, in an attempt to lighten the mood.

I smirked at this, and gesturing with my head towards Mustache girl that she should come play with us. She still seemed hesitant at first, but that mood quickly vanished once I grasped her hand and lead her over towards the TV. That gesture always seemed to make her feel better...and it uh, m-made me feel more comforted now too...

The next few hours consisted of teaching a ghost with two fingers, who knew nothing about video games, how to pull off advanced combos in my favourite fighting game: Super Crogi Quest 2 Turbo! Unfortunately, he just resorted to just learning one over the course of an hour and just using that over and over again against Mustache girl and I. I won most of the matches, since Mustache girl couldn't ever really afford video games, but she still won a few since she's played with me before. And Snatcher actually won a couple!

"HAH! TAKE THAT! I'm so good at this! I'll be teaching you a thing or two soon kiddo. You'll see." Snatcher laughed to himself, after getting his third win out of fifty or so matches.

Mustache girl pouted, picking her character again with a grunt.

"You just used the same move over and over! I could've easily knocked you out, but nooooo Hat Kid over here had to make me lose all my lives first and come third! Hmph." Mustache girl complained, rolling her eyes as the match started.

Snatcher scoffed, looking down at me, then back at her.

"Now now. No one likes a sore loser! Be more like this kid, Mustache girl. She never complains when SHE loses!" Snatcher informed her, chuckling to himself as the button mashing commenced.

I looked over at Mustache girl to my left, seeing her sitting down on one of the pillows on the ground in front of the TV. Although, she turned away from the screen to look over my shoulder, glaring at Snatcher as he floated a little off the ground, as the wired controlled kept him closer to the floor than he'd usually be when hovering.

"Well, that's because she barely EVER loses! How'd you get so good at this game anyway?" Mustache girl spoke, shifting her question to me.

I giggled at the compliment, which is was also when the dog I was playing as in the corgi fighting game, K.O'd Mustache girl's character. Causing her to become a little more irritated as Snatcher and I exchanged a glance of satisfaction after making her lose another life. Still, this was a free for all and Snatcher was next on my list of targets, while Mustache girl was respawing, now on her last life.

"Well, travelling in space isn't exactly quick. So I always have a lot of time to practice! Heh, I'm proabbly the best in galaxy!...Just kidding. That honour goes to Rumbi." I explained, looking behind me as Rumbi back flipped in approval.

After a couple more hours of playing (and Snatcher FINALLY using a different move) Mustache girl and I had began losing more frequently as we got further into the night. It's pretty hard to focus on what's happening on screen when you need to just...close your eyes...for just a minute...

"Hah!...I *yawn* got you kid!" Mustache girl celebrated, making me lose a life I noticed her weakly raise her arms into the air, upon opening one eye.

Suddenly, all the music and sound effects from the game came to a halt. I opened both eyes this time and diverted my attention back to the screen, noticing it had been paused.

"Alright you two. Time for some shut eye." Snatcher told us both honestly.

He placed down his controller on top of the TV, ruffuling my hair beneath my hat, and placing a hand on Mustache girl's shoulder. I nodded, putting down my controller too, and pressing a button in the TV with weary eyes, causing the screen to turn off.

Mustache girl folded her arms, and looked at the controller in her arms with disappointment.

"I could go for five more minutes..." Mustache girl yawned.

She stretched, before hitting Snatcher with an extraordinarily weak punch and pointed at him.

"I'm not tired...you're tired..." Mustache girl yawned once again.

Snatcher let out a small chuckle (for him) as he floated over to the door to what used to be my room, gesturing with his long arm that we should go in. It's not just my room anymore after all, it's also Mustache girl's, since she's stayed up here with me for quite a while now. I would say it's Snatcher's too...But not only does he have a whole forest, he can't really....you know...

"Trust me kiddo, if I WISH I was tired. I haven't slept in...how many years has it been? Whatever. I just miss dreaming. That was always the best part of sleep." Snatcher reflected, as we walked into the hallway leading up to my room.

I mumbled to myself as we walked past him, rubbing my eyes as we stepped into my room.

"Well, having nightmares doesn't seem very lucky buddy..." I groaned, jumping into the pillows face first.

I rolled around in them a little, before eventually finding a spot where I was comfortable and looked over at Mustache girl, who nose dived in, causing pillows to bounce up in the air as we both giggled. Snatcher on the other hand, sat near my bed, shrugging at me in the pillow fort.

"So...why do you sleep in there now? You've got a perfectly good bed right here." Snatcher pondered, patting my slightly dusty bed sheets.

I laughed with a shaky voice, looking away from him and back to Mustache girl, who was giddly sticking her head up from the pillows, laughing as she did so.

"W-well, I just don't want Mustache girl to f-feel lonely in the big fort! Yeah! Plus, I offered her my bed. Buuutttt eh, sleeping in here is just more fun anyway." I admitted, as Snatcher rolled his eyes with a smirk.

"Gee I wonder why." He mumbled, expecting a response from me...He got one.

I began moving my fingers along my mouth, closing it. Indicating to him he should zip it, as I hoped that was a phrase on this planet too.

He chuckled to himself, as he began to sink into the floor, likely heading back to Subcon Forest. I got up and reached out for him, slightly confused.

"H-hey! Where are you going?" I questioned him, as he slowed his dissaperance through the ground.

"The mailman I found yesterday got lost in my forest. So, I need ANOTHER one! I'm going to guess he fell into the swamp. That's a shame. He would've made a fine minion. Anyway, I'm going mailman fishing. Smell you later!" Snatcher waved his up from the floor as the rest of his body decended down, before we watched his arm follow.

I looked back at Mustache girl, as her head stuck out the pillows, with the rest of her body being submerged. She sank down into the pillows with a groan, quite clearly exhausted. I decided to join her, collapsing onto our pillow fort and shutting my eyes.

"Goodnight Mustache girl..." I yawned, burying my face into the mass of cushions.

I heard some scrambling from the right of the fort, as the sounds of Mustache girl re-emerging filled the room.

"Goodnight kid..." Mustache girl told me, seemingly already drifting off.

. . .

. . .

. . .

This dream was...different, to the ones I'd been having recently. I could tell straight away, with the first sign being the significant lack of the endless white void. This time, I appeared to be in...Lé Feline? Empress' jewlery store? All the glass windows were replaced with a pure black wall, including the glass doors, which had transformed into a tiny wooden one.

I looked to where Empress usually stood, finding her in her usual position, hands behind her back and scratching behind her ear. Yet her eyes were clearly fixed on the centre of the room, glaring at me.

"Leave me, little one. There's someone out there who wishes to speak with you. Get out of my sight, and don't touch my plants on the way out." Empress spat, snarling as she did so.

I then began looking around the room, finding that Empress appeared to have taken up gardening as a hobby. With all the jewlery in her cases being replaced with plants off all shapes and sizes. Everything from large purple flowers, to moss and mushrooms. All growing in there. I wasn't exactly sure how, and blacking out the windows seemed rather counterintuitive, yet I brushed it off. Dismissing it as the usual illogical logic of dreams.

I shrugged and backed away from the feline, wishing I could wack her with my umbrella over, and over and over for what she did to Mustache girl, the birds and that poor goat. Yet, I had hunch attacking her in here would lead to a rather unpleasant result. So, I left the building.

After closing the door, I felt a breeze pick up outside. I shut my eyes, getting ready to take in some fresh air...Yet this air was anything but. It smelt like the fumes emitted from Mafia Town, just with a lot more petrol, oil and cat fur. It was also boiling hot out here, as sweat had alright began crawling it's way down my face. I opened my eyes to scan the area for a potential sorce of these fumes, where I suddenly realised just how...off the area was. The jewlery store appeared to sit atop a mountain peak, with the sky surrounding it shifting colors non-stop, resembling a Rift Collapse from the Death Wishes Snatcher had created for me, and they were always some of my favourites.

Speaking of which (it wouldn't be a recent dream of mine without him), Snatcher floated inches off of the ground, staring out into the vast space the mountain sat upon.

"S-snatcher?" I questioned him, making sure to be careful when approaching the figure.

He turned to me without a word, with a blank expression, as his attention was once again hastily shifted back over to the vast lack of landscape.

"Do you know what this is kiddo?" Snatcher questioned, not turning to face me.

He then gestured down the cliff, pointing downwards with his clawed finger. I looked over the edge, ever so slightly so dream Snatcher couldn't push me off, like I knew he was planning to. Dream Snatcher was never to me anymore, and I didn't understand it. Yet, my attention shifted from my thoughts to the scene below the mountain, as I let out a cry in horror.

Below the mountain, there was an endless, vast sea of lava (explaining the heat). It stretched on for as far as I could see, and undoubtedly further than that. Steam errupted from the surface of the bubbling liquid, yet without darkening the rainbow like skies. But that isn't what had caused me to shriek. Instead, that was the sight of what was in the lava. In it...were Time Pieces. Hundreds, upon hundreds, upon hundreds of Time Pieces, all floating in the burning ocean, as more rained from the sky, mercilessly crashing down and splashing into the lava below.

"Wh-what...what's g-going on Snatcher?" I interrogated him, turning towards the spectre despite my eyes still darting around the outside. 

The sound, the shattering noise of the Time Pieces I had feared, the noise which pained my very heart had become so incredibly prevalent that I could barely even hear myself think, let alone comprehend what was even going on.

"Are you aware of what the Time Pieces will do once they're all destroyed? Because this is it." Snatcher explained, with emotion being a foreign concept to his current tone.

I looked away from him, twirling my hair through my fingertip and tugging my collar.

"Well, obviously I don't know what will happen if they're destroyed...But I do know this won't happen!" I told him, edging closer and holding my fists up to my chin.

Snatcher glanced at me without hope, his usual smile would look alien on this version of him. 

"How can you be so sure?" Snatcher questioned me, moving closer to me now, facing my direction.

The sounds of waves of lava crashing against the bottom of this rock echoed throughout the dream, accompanied by the crashing of glass against the molten mass. I took a deep breath, edging closer to Snatcher now.

"Because the Time Pieces...they don't work like that..." I vaguely explained, looking away.

Snatcher began slowly floating in my direction, looming over me and growing seemingly taller as he did so.

"Oh really? Well, even if I'm wrong, there is one power I'm certain these Time Pieces have...and it's bringing me back to Vanessa. Now, give one. Just ONE to me! That's all I ask. YOU have HUNDREDS of these things, and people have just been smashing them without a care in the world without any type of catastrophic event happening, so what EXCUSE do you have for NOT giving me one! Now, hand over the Time Piece, KID!" Snatcher threatend me, picking me up by my shirt.

He flew over the edge of the cliff, and held me out in front of him as the heat from the lava only seemed to intensify. Sweat dripped down every inch of my being, as I felt his grip loosen over the lava.

"L-look Snatcher, I c-couldn't give you one if I w-wanted to! It's like how I couldn't just change back Mafia Town for Mustache girl an-," I was cut off in my futile attempt at defending myself.

"Oh Mustache girl, Mustache girl, Mustache girl. That's all you think about nowadays isn't it? What about YOUR planet KID? Shouldn't that matter to you more than her? How about those parents of yours kid? Hm? You've been away from it all so long kiddo. You know why you've been up here travelling so long, don't you? Because you, are not WANTED there! And GUESS WHAT?! YOU AREN'T WANTED *HERE* EITHER!" Snatcher roared at me, as his grip only loosened.

"Snatcher...I don't...I don't..." I looked away from him, then down at the lava as I felt a tear well up in my eye.

"Listen kiddo, I don't care about you. Never have, never will. I bet the real me is down in Subcon Forest right now, searching for any Time Pieces you left there. But not to revive himself, oh no. He'll do that, after he erases you from ever existing." Snatcher taunted me.

Finally, he let go of me, as I felt myself jerk backwards, as scorching heat took over my whole body...

. . .

"AHHHHHH!" I woke up screaming, thrusting my head out of the pillows it had been buried under, causing me to be completely full of sweat all over my face.

Now, I didn't believe dream Snatcher. I mean, I even knew for a fact that there were no more Time Pieces left in Subcon Forest. But...the thought alone was enough to terrify me. Erasing someone from existence...someone like me...or...her.

I looked around the room, void of light, for Mustache girl. After scanning the area, I found her sitting up in Snatcher's usual spot, looking up from her journal, wide eyed and dropping the journal as she looked over to me.

"H-hat Kid? What...what happened? Are you ok?" Mustache girl questioned me, in an attempt to calm me down, leaning forward.

I jumped out of the pillow fort as fast as I could, diving next to her before just wrapping my arms around Mustache girl and giving her a hug. Her warmth being unlike that of the lava. Instead of being harsh and deadly, this was a welcoming, soothing warmth. Plus, being this close to Mustache girl was something I'd become more and more fond of...well, that's kind of an understatement.

Mustache girl, despite being initially surprised, returned the gesture by wrapping her arms around my body, and rubbing my back.

"I-I-I-, Mustache girl...there was...the-the world was ending! There was l-lava everywhere! Time Pieces were being d-destroyed! S-snatcher tried to k-kill me...I was...so scared..." I told her, quivering in her arms.

Mustache girl held me tighter, making me begin to feel a lot better. I looked up, seeing her give me a soft smile, which I returned.

"It's ok. It was just a dream, I've had plenty of nightmares about the Mafia before anyway. They aren't so bad once you wake up Hat Kid." Mustache girl confirmed me, patting my back as we continued to hug until I stopped breathing as quickly as I was.

I really wanted to tell her then. To explain how much she meant to me. To show her...But...I just...couldn't. That would be scarier than any nightmare I'd ever have. And it would be just as terrifying once this adventure came to a close, we'd have to go our seperate ways, so would confessing reall even matter? I'm still an alien...I still have a...home planet. And I still had to look after all these...Time Pieces.

But, I didn't wish to keep this tense, sad atmosphere. So once we pulled away from each other, staring into each other's eyes, I cracked a smug little smirk.

"So...what were you writing about?" I asked her.

Mustache girl's eyes immediately flew over to the red book she'd dropped on the floor, as she looked back at me and laughed nervously.

"Heh-heh...heh...Uh, oh you know, just boring stuff...you wouldn't be interested..." Mustache girl denied.

She slowly backed up, picking up her journal and sliding it into her robe, obscuring it from my view beneath her robe and cloak. I also noticed her face turn that adorable little shade of red once again.

"Oh come on! Of course I'm interested in hearing what you write! Oh! We should totally share secrets some time from our diaries! That sounds like so much fun!" I cheerily suggested, already giggling.

Mustache girl seemed to stop and ponder the idea for a moment, looking away from me, undecided. Likely leaning more towards a no...But then she just smiled and shrugged in response.

"Eh, sure. What the heck? But you better have some JUICY secrets in there if you want to hear everything I write!...Also it's a journal, not a diary." Mustache girl explained.

I rolled my eyes, before walking over to her and grabbing her hand. Yawning in the process.

"Suuuurrreee, whatever. They're practically the same thing. Anyway, I don't think I'll have any more nightmares tonight...especially if...y-you're there." I admitted, gulping as I did so.

I felt my face heat up yet again, as I saw Mustache girl go redder, as her slight grin was replaced with an uncontrollable smile, stretching from ear to ear. I lead us the two of us back into the pillows, as we lay there, we closed our eyes...and slept.

When I woke up the next morning, I found myself in a rather...interesting situation. Instead of Mustache girl grabbing onto my arm subconsciously, I had actually rolled closer to her and placed an arm around the girl's chest. Mustache girl was fast asleep, as usual, I was the first to wake up, experiencing the feeling of hugging her once again certainly made this an incredible start to the day, as that dumb, uncontrollable smile stretched across my whole face. I stayed there for as long as I possibly could, just gazing at her. Her long, pretty hair...that beautiful mustache....her soft face...her eyes that had began to flicker o-

"*Yawn* Good morning Hat Ki-...uuuhhhh, why are you...l-looking at me like that?" Mustache girl inquired, raising an eyebrow, yet beginning to form a smile similar to the one I had.

I froze for a moment, as my eyes expanded in size while my words got caught in my throught. I back away from her, letting go of her body and starting to back away.

"N-n-no reason! I was just...um...y-you had something on your face! And I was going to t-take it off! Y-yeah!...Heh, th-that's all!" I lied, attempting to hide the fact that I'd been giving her goo goo eyes for over ten minutes after waking up.

I shot out of bed, telling her I was going to make us some breakfast as I felt like dumping my head in a bowl if cerial as I prayed to...something out there, that she couldn't tell...despite me being quite clearly, horrendous at hiding it.

After making us both some of that 'earth food' for breakfast, also known as 'bacon and eggs', Mustache girl and I checked the planet, sitting down at the ship's controls, to see if any new spots on it were available as I thought to myself. Hmm...sometimes when I bring bacon back up here from the planet, Snatcher had tried eating it...with no success.

Anyway, as I scanned the planet with my space I noticed that there actually was a new place to go! It just wasn't viewable on the planet's surface, and not only that, there was a pretty strong Time Piece signal!

"Mustache girl, our next stop is the Nyakuza Metro!" I exclaimed proudly, turning to her in my seat at the ship's controls.

Mustache girl raised an eyebrow and placed a finger on her chin upon hearing this.

"Nyakuza?...Hmm...Nyaku-Wait! Like that awsome jacket you have!? Is this where you bought it?!" Mustache girl asked me in awe.

I nodded with a smile, which was met with a squeal. It sounded to me like she'd been looking forward to visiting this place. And I couldn't blame her! There was so much I wanted to show her! So many awsome restaurants! So many bright, pretty, colorful neon lights everywhere! And of course, the train cats are adorable and I had no doubt we'd endlessly be trying to pet one.

Mustache girl ran back into my room for a minute, then emerging less than five minutes later with the Nyakuza pants, shoes, cat tail and of course, the jacket on. She had her hood up this time, so it more resmbled her usual getup. I giggled upon viewing this once again, the clothes really suited her! And, with both of us ready (one of us certainly looking the part) I flew our spaceship down towards the Metro, excited to show Mustache girl around!...Although, I wasn't too excited about running into Empress again...

After entering the manhole that brought us down into The Nyakuza Metro, I could immediately tell something was...off. Literally. Most of the area was coated in darkness, with all the electronic lights now being absent. Which was a rather...odd idea on Empress' part. The only thing here giving off light was the pink force field, illuminating the surrounding area. Mustache girl walked up to it in confusion, attempting to poke it. Unfortunately, her finger would not pass through. We couldn't exactly use the cleaning robot that used to be here either, since it was either in the shadows or absent from the entrance to the metro.

Luckily for us, I had brought my metro passes. So, I just slid the pink pasd into the slot and the barrier...didn't disappear? It turned red, with an X displayed on it before switching back to pink. I looked at Mustache girl with a shrug, who attempted to find another way in by scanning for a way to climb the wall by searching the area. But...why didn't my pass work? I tried twice more, with zero success. I decided to study the pink force field more closely now, to see if the requirement more entry had changed. And surely enough, it had. There appeared to be a large white circle displayed on the barrier...um...ok? That's weird. What, was Empress using CD's now or something?

I turned, and noticed Mustache girl approaching me from behind, slowly.

"Find a way in?" I asked her, not having any luck with going in the intended way.

Mustache girl srcatched the back of her hood and held an arm up to shrug.

"Maayybbee? Come here." Mustache girl told me, motioning with her arm that I should follow her.

She lead me to the back of the room, which was completely shrouded in darkness due to being far away from the force field. It was only upon closer inspection that...a Metro Cat came into view. They were sleeping on the ground, with a small blue sleeping bag containing their tall body, while their head rested on a cardboard box. I looked over at Mustache girl, who just shrugged again.

"I mean...we don't really have any other choice. Plus, I doubt this is a trap or anything. The whole place seems pretty deserted." Mustache girl commented, before proceeding to poke the Cat.

After a little bit of poking from Mustache girl, the Metro cat eventually sat up. Yawning, and stretching, facing away from us. They scratched their back, before looking in our direction ad they rubbed their eyes.

"Uggghhh, stupid rats. Oh well, at least I've got bre-WHAT!? Y-YOU TWO!? Oh no! You've come to kill me too haven't you? Well, if you think you can fight ME then you've got another thing coming!" The Cat threatend us, upon realising we woke them up.

He lifted us his cardboard box, revealing a baseball bat underneath it. He reached down for it, until he just...stopped. Moving so slowly it seemed like they were almost stationary, as the world appeared to have a green and black tint to it. I turned my eyes to face Mustache girl (as my head would move too slow) who stood there with a toothy smile, arms folded, with her Time Stop Hat on.

"Heh, you gotta love this thing." Mustache girl chuckled, patting the hat I gave her.

She proceeded to walk a few steps forward, grabbing the baseball bat and pointing it at the cat, before time resumed as normal.

"The boss is gonna pay me so much fo-HEY! Where did my-," the Cat glanced back at the two of us, noticing the baseball bat Mustache girl posed with as his face sank, "Oh...uhh...look I promise there's no hard feelings. I-was j-just uhh, kidding! Y-yeah!...R-right, guys?"

I brought out my umbrella, as Mustache girl pointed her new baseball bat (because peck no was she giving it back) at the feline, who was backed against the wall shaking his hands in front of his face. Indicating to us not to hurt him.

"Alright, what's going on? Why won't it let us in?" I interrogated him, pointing the umbrella in his direction.

Mustache girl moved closer to him, as her baseball bat did too, which she held the end of now, pressing it up to the Cat's face.

"Yeah! And if you don't tell us, oooohhoooo buddy you are screwed! Big time!" Mustache girl taunted the cat, as he began anxiously looking around as Mustache girl continued to press her bat up to his furry face.

"Ok! Ok! Just take that thing away from me!" The Cat pleaded, as his breathing quickened.

I placed a hand on the bat and lowered it for Mustache girl. She looked at me with a smile, placing one hand in her pocket and the other clutching the bat over her shoulder.

"Alright. I'm just going to let the cat out of the bag right now. Some WEIRD stuff has been going on down here! So, the boss decided that she'd move her main base of operations up to where a close buisness ally of her's lives. Another gang. Anyway, so once she did that, she kept an eye on the metro with a bunch of security cameras, since she was up in the mountains all the time now. Buuuttt, then this, this, this...weirdo shows up from like, out of nowhere! And he starts selling BADGES! Yeah, badges! They're prime street buisness, and this dude is over here with a bag full of them! We tried robbing him before, but the guy just...disappeared to another part of the Metro. It's like he's a ghost or something! Creeepppyyy..." The Cat shivered.

Mustache girl rolled her eyes, getting ready to point the bat again.

"Yeah yeah whatever. How do we get through here and what actually HAPPENED here?" Mustache girl inquired, as I noticed from her fidgeting in her pockets and foot tapping that she'd been growing impatient.

The Cat folded his arms, looking at me rather than Mustache girl (I think he was pretty intimidated by her).

"I'm getting to that! Anyway, so a few days go by and this dude starts selling a 'new badge'. It's dirt cheap too, so of course everyone's gonna buy it!...But, most of the cats down here aren't uh...the brightest, since the boss took all her best Nyakuza members up into the mountains with her. So, pretty much everyone in the metro buys the badge after hearing their friends say so much good stuff about it!...But, a couple of us recently noticed something....off, about most of the metro. Cats began taking down the boss' cameras, people have stopped selling food at the food trucks, instead selling that 'new badge' and it's become pretty much mandatory to own it! Since somehow these wacko Metro Cats have figured out how to tamper with the barriers and now, instead of using metro passes, they require that badge! It's ridiculous! Lucky, a couple of us noticed how weird this all is, and we don't want to be a part of it. So, around twenty of us left the metro to go find the boss so she can sort this mess out! I was just sleeping here, since it took me all day to sneak out of this place and I just needed some shut eye." The Cat explained to us both honestly.

Mustache girl and I glanced at each other, sharing a look of confusion. I turned back to the Cat, ready with a few questions.

"Ok...what did this badge...do?" I asked first.

"Well, it's called the 'Hypno badge'. And the only reason people bought it as much as they did, is proabbly because they don't know hypno is short for hypnosis...or all their hypnotized friends pressured them into buying it. Still, it's just, ugh, kinda creepy." The Cat explained, as a chill crawled up his back once again.

I raised another eyebrow at this. Hypnotism? Why? For what? Was the Metro needed for something? The Cats? I didn't know what the answer was, and I highly doubted that the Cat knew either. But I did know one thing. This was obviously the work, of The Badge Seller.

I mean, a mysterious guy randomly appearing and selling people a bunch of badges! Come on, of course that's him! But...I knew the who. Not the why. Still, I'd figure that out later. The Time Pieces were at stake!

"Do you own one of these badges?" I asked the Metro Cat.

The Metro Cat thought to himself for a moment before snapping his fingers. He turned to his sleeping bag and began shaking it, as various pons, pieces of cat hair and a couple dollars landed onto the floor, until finally a plastic circular shape fell out of the bag. The Metro Cat picked up the badge and held it in front of me.

"Here, take it kid. I only needed it to get out of her anyway. You don't have to wear it, because then you'll be well, hypnotized, duh. Just have it on you when walking through the protective barriers, and you're good." The Metro Cat explained as I took the badge from his hand.

The Badge was primarily red, with a white swirl pattern spiralling from the sides to the centre of the badge. A trio of flies all flew in a circle around the badge, indicating it's practicality (or lack there of). I slid the item into my pocket, intending on throwing it away once I was done with this conundrum.

"So uhh...can I...go now?" The Cat asked us both, pointing up at the manhole we had fell through.

I nodded and he began to gather his belongings as we turned towards the barrier, preventing us from getting into the rest of the Metro. So, I walked towards it, keeping Mustache girl close by so she wouldn't be stuck on the other side. As I got closer, the pink force field turned from pink to green, replacing the circle symbol with a checkmark, granting us entry. We stepped beyond the neon gateway to find the rest of this area still completely abandoned. Even the food truck had it's shutter closed! That never happened down here!

"Oh, hey wait up! You two! I left my Nyakuza mask on the other side of this barrier! Could you just, toss it over?" The Cat shouted from the other side of the pink wall.

I looked around, noticing a mask on a nearby table. I was about to go pick it up, when I saw Mustache girl run up to the mask snatch it, already tying it around her face.

"Mustache girl! You can't do-...you...can't...that looks so cute..." I admitted, sighing as my face warmed up yet again...yeah, she was my weakness.

Mustache girl giggled mischievously beneath the mask, twirling her mustache as she placed one finger over her mouth, indicating that I should be quiet. I did as I was told (oh you can't say no to a girl in a cat mask with a mustache for peck's sake), and snuck off towards a train that sat stationary on the hologram.

The reason why the train was stationary, was due to the train cat on the track being asleep. It sat there, purring as it rubbed it's head on it's paws. But, we had to wake it up...but we weren't about to hit a cat!

"Heeerrreee kitty kitty! Heeerrreee kitty kitty!" Mustache girl told the animal, as it continued purring in sleep.

I decided the next course of action would be to go over to it, as nuzzle my face onto the feline. As I did so, I realised just how fluffy these big kittens were...so soft...so comfortable...so soothing...maybe I could just close my eyes...have a quick nap...or sleep for a day...or-

"Hat Kid! Stop being so adorable and get up! Hahaha!" Mustache girl laughed, as she'd just watch me snuggle up to a giant cat and give it a hug.

I rubbed my eyes and yawned. My approach of waking it up by touching it seemed to do literally the exact opposite. I began to think of a better approach as I reached into my pocket, and pulled out a badge.

"We need something loud and obnoxious. Could you stand next to me for this one?" I asked Mustache girl, pulling out my sprint hat and placing it on my head.

Mustache girl raised an eyebrow as she stood close to me.

"What, do you need me to be loud and obnoxious?" Mustache girl inquired.

I shook my head, as the scooter appeared below us both. I grabbed on the handles and Mustache girl held onto me, making me feel...wonderful~

Still, I couldn't just sit there forever. So I drove the scooter up close to the cat...riiiight next to their ear and proceeded to squeeze the horn. The ginger cat's golden eyes jolted awake immediately as it's hair puffed up, while the feline let out a high pitched meow, before just running forward, quicker than they usually do. Although, that's proabbly thanks to me. It did get a laugh out of Mustache girl though, which is always lovely to hear.

Without a moment to spare, I grabbed Mustache girl and shot out my Hookshot from my umbrella (due to already having that badge equipped) and latched onto the top of the train, it's claws scraping against the metal only aggrovating the cat, giving me a slight frown as Mustache girl and I were pulled onto the train's roof.

"Woohoo! Aw, Hat Kid that was so smart!" Mustache girl praised me.

I closed my eyes and scratched the back of my head, as I was clearly flattered.

"Well, heh, I wouldn't say I'm smart, heck, I think that you're the smart one-," Mustache girl cut me off, diving on top of me and pushing me to the floor with a gasp.

I looked up from the ground, feeling the rumbling of the train below me and the softness of Mustache girl on top of me. I noticed that the train had actually just passsed a sign that would've hit me in the face, if it weren't for Mustache girl.

"Point proven!" I giggled, causing Mustache girl to do the same.

A few more signs came rushing towards us, with their neon lights completely turned off, for whatever reason. Anyway, out train was about to reach a dead end, so we both hoped over onto one on the left of us, which was at first bringing us backwards, yet took a right turn. The change in angle causing Mustache girl to get tripped up by a sign and land flat on her face.

"Oh come on! That one was easy to avoid!" I told her, helping the girl up.

Mustache girl was quickly back on her feet though, and was already getting ready to jump in between a couple heading our way.

"Easy for you to say! You're still way better at this platforming thing! Hmmm...if only I could..." Then, a grin showed itself on Mustache girl's face as she showed of her teeth.

She pulled out the baseball bat and watched me (being slightly ahead of her on the train) jump between the two un-lit up signs heading out way. Mustache girl also jumped into the air, but it was really more of a slight hop as she brought the bat over her head and swung it through the two signs, causing them to fall in the abyss below the hologram floor the train was riding on.

"Hah! Take that! Who even puts signs up here anyway? The people reading them are gonna be getting wacked in the face!" Mustache girl celebrated...while also making a good point.

After dodging a couple more signs, we were eventually brought into the Main Station, which looked...different, to say the least. Conveyor belts littered the area, each one had a symbol for a badge on it. These conveyor belts all stretched up far into the top of the station, being loaded onto the trains by many, many Metro Cats. Speaking of which, they all walked around the station with crooked movements, like a mindless robot as they carried package, after package of badges to different rooms to either be sent off, sealed, filled or something else of that nature. The Cats all had spiral patterns in their eyes, with the Hypno Badge being pined to their ear, tail or chest fur. All of the restruants appeared to have been renovated and changed into building for the use of manufacturing badges too. None of it seemed very safe either, as the main generator for this whole operation sat in the centre of the Main Station, with hundreds, possibly even thousands of wires shooting out from the bottom of it towards the buildings. And that very same generator had an iron container next to it, plugged into the generator. Why do I mention this? Because the container had a blue, hourglass symbol on it, labelled, "Fuel".

Mustache girl and I jumped off of the train, which came to a halt as Metro Cats didn't seem to notice us, pushing past all of us and loading box after box onto the train's open doors.

"Wha-Hey! Watch where you're going you idiot!" Mustache girl insulted them.

The Hypnotized Metro Cats didn't pay any to her attention however, instead just continuing to go about their work in that trance.

"Ugh, we have to get these weird cats to start acting like that wimp from earlier! But how are we going to change them back?" Mustache girl asked me.

I pointed at the metal container, causing Mustache girl to smirk. We both brought out our weapons of choice and held them over our heads, getting ready to slam them into the generator and the container full of Time Pieces.

We brought down our weapons, slamming them down towards the metallic objects like clubs, denting them both. We kept rapidly thrashing against the machines, over and over, and over, and ov-

"I wouldn't do that if I were you young ones. You may end up in a, shall we say, less favourable situation. Or should I say, not favourable in the slightest." An immediately recognisable voice spoke from behind us.

I turned, finding The Badge Seller standing before us both. Although, he did seem slightly less...twitchy. He seemed to actually have control over his odd looking appendages now, as his arm had stopped twitching, his mask face had stopped spinning and even those strange, glitchy particles around him were gone.

"Badge Seller! What's going on? Why did you do this?" I asked the man(?), completely perplexed.

"Who are you? And uh, where did you come from?" Mustache girl asked, more dumbfounded than I was.

The Badge Seller stood there, placing one arm behind his back while walking towards the machine as the other moved his staff. Mustache girl had her arms crossed, scowling at him.

"This is one weird looking bad guy..." Mustache girl mumbled under her breath.

The Badge Seller didn't pay her any attention though, instead looking directly at me...well, at least I think he was. He only had one pupil after all.

"Now young ones, you proabbly have many questions for me. First off, this place was the last place I had to visit on my travels around the world. And I took quite a liking to it. After all, these cats are very egar buyers. And as luck would have it, one day down here I noticed some of these feline fellows carrying...A Time Piece. Or rather, a crate full of them. They claimed to have taken from a spaceship, and that more crates were coming through. So, I approached these ruffians and offered them all a very high price for the crates. Naturally, they accepted my offer. As a master salesman, I can be rather, convincing." The Badge Seller explained, as I held a tighter grip on my umbrella upon hearing the mention of him taking my Time Pieces.

Mustache girl scoffed at his last statement though.

"Oh someone's awfully narcissistic." She commented, looking away from him.

I um...I didn't know what narcissistic meant...I'd have to get Snatcher to teach me, he's pretty good with big words! Anyway, The Bage Seller didn't show any visible reaction to Mustache girl's statement, yet clearly heard it.

"Ah yes, I do believe this is coming from the person who builds golden statues of themself to adorn their castle walls, is it not?" The Badge Seller questioned her.

Mustache girl's eyes widened in response, clearly not anticipating that reply.

"Wha-you...How did you know about that?!" Mustache girl spoke though grinded teeth, clutching her baseball bat tighter.

"Oh I know more than anyone in the Metro, young child. As I have the power...of time! With it, I was able to get rid of my twitchy behaviour, that may appear off putting to customers. But most importantly, I was able to use the power of these hourglasses to create a brand new badge! The Hypno Badge! This gives me, a full control of the wearer, as they fulfil my every desire. Provided, I tell them to, of course. And now that I have taken all of these Cat's minds for myself, I have been able to produce badges on mass! Using the power of the Time Pieces to create and power my badge making machines!" The Badge Seller exclaimed, pointing his staff in the air out of triumph.

I took a step forward, scratching my head. I didn't...get it.

"But...why?" I inquired, titling my head.

"Why young one, for the money of course! I made a lot of money selling to you child. So, it is only natural that I would wish to increase that profit! By sending out and selling my badges to the whole world!" The Badge Seller once again spoke passionately.

I stepped towards him once more, placing a hand on his shoulder, staring into his eye...sockets?

"Why did you have to hypnotize these innconcent people though?" I explained, putting an arm around The Badge Seller as I showed him how autonomous everyone had become.

Yet...The Badge Seller simply nodded at the fruits of his efforts.

"Haven't you been paying attention young one? They work for me, so I can create badges quickly and efficiently in my factories powered and created by these Time Pieces." The Badge Seller explained.

Suddenly, every Cat dropped their boxes gently onto the ground, before every Cat left in the Metro formed a large circle around the three of us, with the generator filled with Time Pieces in the centre. They all looked on at us with their swirling, lifeless, beady eyes.

Mustache girl looked around at all of them with me frantically, as we both came to the same conclusion...we were surrounded.

I turned to The Badge Seller, in a desperate attempt to descilate the situation, holding out a hand and pointing to the Cats.

"Don't you see? They're mindless! Give us back the Time Pieces and we'll forget any of this ever happened!" I pleaded the merchant, yet to no avail.

"Oh young one, how naive you are surprises even me. Why should I care about their well being when nobody ever tried helping me with my absolutely terrible condition! Even know, after obtaining all these Time Pieces, most damage I have been dealt over the years has remained irreversible! Yet, despite all of that. I don't not wish for you to take this as an act of malicious intent. Moreso...buisness." The Badge Seller argued, unsympathetically.

After he finished, The Badge Seller began twirling his staff over his head, before pointing it forward, as if it were a sword. Then, badges began to circle around his head. Floating there, ready to be used as projectiles, all while the Metro Cats under his control cheered him on. Mustache girl and I readied weapons of our own, as the fight with The Badge Seller...began.


	12. Badge Seller Brawl

I didn't want to have to do this. Well, I guess I never actually thought I'd be doing this. The Badge Seller to me was always uh, pretty weird. But wasn't ever antagonistic towards me, so I always brushed it off. Yet here I was, fighting him...because of the Time Pieces...

I let out a disappointed sigh, looking away from my foe and towards the ground. The Time Pieces always did this, turning people against each other, as they only caused chaos. Of course they d-

Suddenly, The Badge Seller had teleported in front of me, and before I had time to react, he hit me with his cane, slicing it diagonally like some kind of swordsman! Despite the initial shock of being attacked while I had my guard down, and losing my balance a little as I slid across the hard stone floor of the Metro, I managed to stay on my feet. I rubbed my shoulder a little though, since that wooden cane hurt pretty bad...

Mustache girl ran towards him in response, swinging the new baseball bat she acquired down here at The Badge Seller. Yet before she could land the hit, he teleported behind her, creating a large badge that floated above his head, and shot it as a projectile at Mustache girl. All, in the space of a few seconds.

Mustache girl looked around, until realising the Badge Seller had reappered behind her, yet it was too late then. As the giant No Bonk Badge, did more than bonk Mustache girl, launching her away as she just barely managed to stay on her feet as she hunched over slightly.

Witnessing this, I used my Sprint Hat to hastily get close to The Badge Seller, swinging my umbrella this time, yet he just disappeared again.

I anticipated his next attack, turning around and swinging my umbrella...Yet he didn't show up back there. I turned around quickly, anxious that he'd reappeared in front of me this time. Yet, no Badge Seller was in sight, however I did see Mustache girl running up to my side, holding out her baseball bat in front of her while her eyes scanned the arena, with the hypnotized Metro Cats acting as a wall. Yet she found nothing, and neither did I.

Suddenly, enormous No Bonk Badges began falling from the ceiling, creating shockwaves as they hit the floor.

I picked up Mustache by the hand, helping her to jump before the first badge hit the floor.

"Don't stand on the ground when it smashes on the floor! You'll just get stunned and hit by something else!" I shouted, over the crashing noise the badge created.

"Gotcha!" Mustache girl nodded as they landed.

Badges continued to fall as the two of us ran in circles around the badges. Jump, dive, land. Jump, dive, land. Jump, dive, land. Is the rhythm we got into. That is, until they began falling faster, causing Mustache girl to hit her foot on a shock wave.

"Owch!" She exclaimed, hoping on one leg over yet another shock wave.

Finally, it seemed that The Badge Seller ceased the attack, as no more badges fell. Speaking of him, The Badge Seller seemed to teleport back into view, standing atop the metallic machine that powered his factories, and was fueled by our Time Pieces.

We saw a large projectile badge appear above his head, as The Badge Seller stuck his cane out in front of him and began shooting large, continuous streams of lasers at us. The first caught me off guard, and I almost was hit by it, yet Mustache girl dived into me, pushing us both away at the last second.

We both landed on the floor, as Mustache girl helped me up. I would've thanked her...if another laser hadn't immediately been launched at us, making the pair of us roll out of the way in opposite directions.

"I'm getting some serious déjà-vu." Mustache girl quipped, as she sprang up from the ground.

I decided that I should try some lasers of my own, so I equiped my projectile badge and fired at him. Yet, The Badge Seller once again teleported away. This time, he appeared to the far left of the arena, shooting his laser at Mustache girl, which hit her, as she wasn't prepared.

Mustache girl got up onto her feet, hopping over the next laser The Badge Seller shot, seemingly forgetting about me.

I used this opportunity to jump from his right, and smacking him with my umbrella when descending, finally landing a hit!

The Badge Seller recoiled, as the arm I hit my umbrella against began to twitch spuratically once again. He teleported away yet again, not waiting to attack this time, as a giant scooter badge appeared in the air.

Various beeps and honks could be heard, as a line of scooters emerged from the right side cat crowd, travelling at full speed! Mustache girl was once again caught off guard, and sent flying into me, as a scooter rammed into me too!

"Ow..." I mumbled, rubbing my head as we got up from the cold, hard floor.

That wasn't the end of the attack though, as another line of scooters shot out from the crowd, this time from the left.

We jumped over that line, yet then another row of vehicles from the left of the arena emerged from the crowd, which we double jumped over.

The next rows of scooters came at us from the left and right simultaniously, yet we had no trouble avoiding these ones, despite their lightning fast pace, out practice allowed us to get over these rows too.

The Badge Seller reappeared then ontop of his machine, with his left arm still moving around uncontrollably. He pointed his cane towards me, and I can away from it, anticipating another laser.

"Hat Kid look out!" Mustache girl shouted behind me.

I continued to run, yet couldn't hear the sound of a laser...instead, I felt something metallic wrap around my chest. I looked down, seeing the pointed, steel ends of a hookshot. I wacked it over and over with my umbrella, yet it wouldn't release me. It then began to recoil back towards The Badge Seller, where I now noticed the hookshot badge floating above his head, as the hookshot itself appeared to be coming out of the end of his cane, which pulled me towards him while he glared at every fibre of my being.

"Let go of her you big, creepy idiot!" Mustache girl shouted, jumping up from behind him and smacking him in the face with her baseball bat.

The badge above him disappeared, causing the hookshot to let go of me and retreat back into the wooden stick. I landed onto the stone floor, giving Mustache girl a thumbs up.

"Nice! We just have to keep hitting him while he's distracted so he doesn't teleport away!" I shouted over at her, while she nodded in agreement.

We both turned to face The Badge Seller, seeing his mask-like face begin to twist and contort, while he let out a grunt.

"Thank you for revealing your strategy. It seems communication has gotten you far in this battle? I doubt that will last." The Badge Seller taunted us.

Before we could run over and attack him, The Badge Seller teleported yet again, only this time immediately reappearing in the high air. He reached a hand into his bag and threw two badges at us both while he decended. We tried running away, as I put on my Sprint Hat and Mustache girl used her Time Stop Hat. Yet the badge seemed to have a mind of it's own, locking onto me and latching itself to my hat. It did the same to Mustache girl's hood, only...slower...

"Hadjign hswcwji ydcwjfwi!!!" Mustache girl...um...I'm not quite sure how she said that, but it came out of her mouth alright.

I raised an eyebrow and decided to reply.

"Zei? Mysffwif gefiafb scwigwvwj aywfafi?...TWFJU!" I shrekied in gibberish, placing my hands over my mouth.

I pulled off my hat, noticing that the mumble badge was stuck to it. Yet, this one was purple, appearing to be some kind of modified form of the original...the flies were still there though...ew. Still, I grabbed the badge in an attempt to pull it off of my hat, yet to no avail. It appeared to be...stuck there? I tried over and over to get it off, but it wouldn't come anywhere close to being released from the fabric.

Sighing (or at least, I let out a noise vaguely resembling one), I placed my hat back on my head and looked over at Mustache girl, still attempting to pull her's off. She looked over at me, and I shook my head and pointed to the badge. She grumbled, yet stopped pulling at it.

Our attention shifted to The Badge Seller, as he stood on the ground, while the camera badge floated above his head.

Not wanting to see where this is going, Mustache girl ignored my prior advice and swung her fist at him. And of course, he teleported out of the way.

"FSVJAIFN!" Mustache girl shouted in anger.

The Badge Seller reappeared in the centre of the arena now, with the camera badge still above his head. Just have to wait to see what he does, then counter it when he isn't expecting anything...yeah...

I saw a large camera appear in front of the merchant, which flashed twice, as two large photos of The Badge Seller sat beside him, each one tilting their head in an off putting manner. The projectile badge then appeared above all their heads, as there purple lasers shot out of their canes. The two literal photo copies span around in circles, as their purple lasers covered the whole arena, while The Badge Seller just stood in the middle, making sure to keep an eye on us both.

I jumped over the purple shots as they circled around the arena, making sure Mustache girl was ok. She was also jumping over them without error, yet I saw her begin to sweat and I knew that we couldn't keep this up forever. So, I waited for The Badge Seller to glance at Mustache girl, then I equipped my Time Stop Hat. Using it, I ran around the photos and hit The Badge Seller in the back with my umbrella, as time returned to normal.

The photos disappeared, as did The Badge Seller. I smiled at Mustache girl, who was panting from all those perfect jumps. Still, she was getting better! Yet there wasn't time for celebration. Giant metal claws, like the one at the end of my hookshot, began smashing through the Metro's ceiling as they crashed into the floor below. The first one was aimed at me, which I only narrowly managed to avoid, as it cut of the edge of my cape with it's sharp end, before crashing into the ground, and recoiling back into the ceiling.

Another hole emerged from the roof, which I believed was aimed at Mustache girl, so I pointed at her, then to my right, signalling her to run. She did that...Yet the claw crashed into me instead.

I felt it's weight slam me into the floor, feeling my body ache in response. I saw Mustache girl attempt to lift the claw off of me, well, I barley saw her. As my vision began to turn slightly blurry from the impact. Yet that wasn't the end of it. The claw wrapped itself around me, pulling me up to the top of the Metro.

"Wh-...huh?" I grunted, blinking my eyes repeatedly as I started to regain my vision.

The bright lights all came into view, as did the horde of cats, all cheering for my demise from below...wait, below? I'd never had a fear of heights, but being held by a claw, overlooking a whole underground city might have been enough to give me one.

My eyes shot to life as I began squirming in an attempt to release myself from it's grasp. I wiggled inside of it, in a futile attempt to get it to let go. I heard Mustache girl shouting something up at me, yet I couldn't make it out. Half thanks to the mumble badge, half thanks to just how far away I was from her.

I kept up my wriggling, trying to at the very least free ONE arm! But, it didn't do anything. All I could do was sit and watch as another claw burst out from the ceiling, some debris hitting me in the face, as it slammed Mustache girl into the ground, before picking her up and pulling her up to the roof of the Metro with me.

She was struggling just as much, if not more than I was, as she clenched her teeth in pure frustration. But it was no use.

The Badge Seller teleported in front of us both, standing atop a building on the other side of the Metro, still twitching. Mustache girl shouted non-sense at him, which he responded with in his own non-sense, while laughing at the two of us. After he was done laughing, The Badge Seller reached into his bag yet again, throwing two more badges at us. I caught a glimpse of what it was as they flew through the air...one hit hero. And it latched itself onto the two of us...then, we were released from the claws and sent flying into the ground below.

This was going to be the end. I was going to...I was going to die...no. I'm not doing that again. Snatcher certainly wasn't here to bring me back, or his army from the forest and they certainly wouldn't bring back Mustache girl! No. There HAD to be a way out of this! And beat The Badge Seller! Badge Seller...Badge Seller...Badge...that's it!

I threw my hand into my pocket, rummaging around in it hastily as I stuck the hover badge onto my hat and replaced the projectile badge. Then, I brought out my umbrella and opened it, as I began to slow my decent. Next, I switched to the Time Stop Hat and saw the whole world slow to a crawl, including Mustache girl who was currently flailing her arms around in sheer terror!

I floated over to my right, and picking up Mustache girl mid-air and returned time's flow back to normal, causing me to gracefully land on the floor below with Mustache girl in my arm...ahhh she wa-

I shook my head. I shouldn't get distracted. Focus on the fight. Instead of getting lost in my head again, I just placed Mustache girl down with a smile and closed the umbrella. Still, we both looked up at The Badge Seller and made a "bleh" noise to the man up there.

He disappeared yet again, yet then immediately reappeared in front of the two of us. He swung his cane like sword in frustration, but it was easily dodged. At that moment Mustache girl looked at my Time Stop Hat and grinned to herself, as she equipped her's. I couldn't tell what she was thinking, but I saw that The Badge Seller was about to teleport away, yet before he could Mustache girl punched him right in the chest!

He skidded backwards on his feet, as his whole body appeared to become a mess. His arm twitching, his mask spinning, his body moving erratically and now, the strange, almost glitchy effects appeared around him.

Before we could slow down time again, a camera appeared in front of The Badge Seller, creating two pictures of himself. Next, the hookshot badge appeared above their heads, making the three of them shoot out a claw out of their canes before either of us could react, throwing us both into the centre of the arena as two hookshots grabbed my legs, and dropped me, while only one grabbed Mustache girl's before dropping her.

The real Badge Seller teleported away, leaving us to dodge his attacks. Still, I felt confident I could do it, while standing back to back with Mustache girl. 

The two pictures of The Badge Seller attempted to shoot us with his purple lasers, forcing us to jump over them as they circled the edges of the arena. It didn't give us much trouble though...until scooters started to emerge from every side of the crowd. All of them driving towards us at full speed! They weren't even in lines this time, as they were all scattered around the floor, driving to the opposite side of the crowd.

Mustache girl and I jumped over them, while having to avoid the two purple lasers coming at us. And they showed no signs of stopping either! If we so much as tripped up on one, and got hit by another, we were gonners.

We continued hoping over scooter after scooter, after scooter, after scooter as Mustache girl and I began getting more and more out of breath, with each jump over the laser I felt it's burning edge get closer to my feet each time. I had way better stamina when it came to this sort of thing than Mustache girl, but when an attack like this goes on for ten minutes without stopping, that's when stamina becomes irrelevant. Although, I was incredibly proud that Mustache girl hadn't been hit either. I-...I don't know what I'd do if that happened...but the attack just kept going.

After another couple minutes of this torture, The Badge Seller appeared on his machine, while the camera badge floated above him. It created more laser shooting copies, and he was about to disappear...but I wasn't going to let that happen.

Captivated by newfound energy, I threw my Time Stop Hat onto my head and slowed down the world, sprinting as fast as humanly (or not humanly in my case) possible towards The Badge Seller and dealing one final blow with my umbrella to his chest! An electric guitar played in my head in celebration, as he exploded into a bright, flashing ball of light and color, before disappearing into...nothingness.

"OH THANK PECK IT'S OVER!" I shouted, raising my fists into the sky.

I realised something in that moment, feeling for the mumble and one hit hero badges on my hat. Yet, they were gone! I guessed The Badge Seller must have made them as a one time use for a fight?

"Oh yooooouuuuu'rrreeee relieved it's over? The platforming extraordinaire herself?" Mustache girl replied, walking up to me as she panted.

I laughed, as I helped her stand up, since she was so tired from the battle. Meanwhile, I was just glad that she was ok, and didn't have that one hit hero badge anymore.

We began to glance around the arena, spying the hypnotized Metro Cats, all staring at us with their spiral-like eyes, while their badges were still in their fur, despite The Badge Seller's defeat.

"Hey...why aren't they um...back to normal?" Mustache girl asked me, scratching her head.

I shrugged in response.

"I guess those are here perminantly, like the ones I bought from him. I'm guessing the badges in the fight were only temporary. We're going to need a Time Piece to make everything go back to normal." I explained, looking over at the generator.

It was made of a black metal, and pumped some form of electricity created by the Time Pieces power into all the buildings. It wasn't too dissimilar to how I've used them honestly. But, this certainly required putting back to normal so unfortnatley, I'd have to smash one.

I meandered over to the side of the machine with an hour glass logo on it, the same one Mustache girl and I had been smashing before The Badge Seller interrupted us. Mustache girl handed me her baseball bat, as she was too worn out to swing it. So, with all my might, I smashed the bat into the machine, cracking it all across it's centre.

I gave my companion her weapon back and began to lift the top half of the machine off of the bottom, and throwing it away, over the cats and into some corner of the main station.

"Woah...how...how are you THIS strong?!" Mustache girl gasped in disbelief.

I giggled to myself, since I was rather used to hearing that now after staying around this planet for months.

"Heh, I don't think it's that. Stuff on your planet is just super light! Besides, we all know you're the tough one." I told Mustache girl, giving her a playful punch in the arm (making sure I didn't break it).

"How am I the tough one if you can do that!? You're CLEARLY stronger! And smarter! And...," Mustache girl put her hand over her face and coughed, "cuter."

I felt my face practically start burning with color, as my heart felt like it just began travelling at light speed.

"Nah, you're mustache is adorable! I love it! How do you grow one?" I asked her, listening intently.

Mustache girl went red upon hearing my compliments, before just straight up laughing at my question.

"Hahahah! I don't think you can Hat Kid!" Mustache girl giggled.

I smiled at this, hearing that laugh was music to my ears. Still, we had a Metro to fix, so I turned to the (now opened) machine. It was filled to the brim with Time Pieces, as some were even spilling out onto the floor! There must have been around a hundred in this thing!

Yet, before I smashed it, I picked one Time Piece up and stared into it.

"You know...The Badge Seller was always weird...but he'd never been actively malicious before...it's these Time Pieces...they keep messing with people! It's too much power..." I sighed looking down into it, seeing myself staring back at me.

My reflection was alone for long though, as Mustache girl walked up closer to me, and placed a hand on my shoulder.

"I mean...yeah but...there's not much we can ever really do about that is there? Aren't these things like, mega important for the universe or something? I mean, you've never said that, but uh, that makes sense...doesn't it?...Hat Kid?" Mustache girl questioned me.

I didn't answer her. I really, really wanted to. Just, not in front of everyone. That's knowledge only I can trust her with. So with a sigh and forcing a tiny smile to reassure her, I smashed a Time Piece.

In a flash of white light, we were once again brought to the centre of our spaceship. Yet, there wasn't a large pile of Time Pieces with us this time, as I had the foresight to just...teleport them into the vault rather than having to carry them in there. While also returning the Metro to normal, and getting rid of all those weird badges, factories and all the damage caused in our fight, which I explained to Mustache girl.

"Ok, that's a LOT you can do with a single Time Piece!" Mustache girl exclaimed in surprise.

I gulped.

"Y-yeah, it sure is!" I told her, while looking towards my room.

I heard the sound of the door opening, and sure enough, The Snatcher hovered out of it smiling at the two of us. He flew over to us both quickly, joining us.

"Hey kids! What's up? How've you been?" Snatcher asked us both, while looking at me.

Mustache girl began making punching motions with her fists and swinging her bat in a confident manner.

"Oh you know, just beating up some bad guys! Ooohhh that final hit from you Hat Kid? That was amazing! Snatcher I would've LOVED to see the look on your face when he EXPLOADED into light! Leaving nothing left! Hahahaha!" Mustache girl laughed misceviously, as Snatcher did the same.

He outstretched his arms and bent his head backwards and laughed towards the ceiling.

"AHAHAHAHHAAHHAAAA! OH MAN, I *WISH* I COULD'VE BEEN THERE! I didn't know you were so cold blooded kiddo!" Snatcher joked, as the two of them laughed again.

I hung my head low, and looked at the ground rubbing my hands together in embarrassment, bearing a frown.

"Guys...you're supported to be trying to change, remember?" I reminded them both with a disappointed sigh.

Mustache girl instantly stopped laughing, going a little white. Meanwhile Snatcher stopped laughing a little slower, and gave me a nervous shrug.

"Yeah I know kiddo. It's just been a little hard to wrap my head around the whole 'being nice' thing? Like, do I torture people, or kill them immediately! Choices, choices..." Snatcher explained, as the ladder half of what he said became sarcastic, causing him to laugh once again.

He stopped quickly though, once he realised neither of us were laughing, instead looking at each other awkwardly while waiting for him to stop...even if Mustache girl was trying to hold back a chuckle.

"I was kidding! There's going to be no murdering from me anymore!...Besides when they make me angry...or step into my forest...or-" Snatcher was going to continue, but I held out a hand to stop him.

"How about...no killing anyone at all?" I offered, smiling at him.

Snatcher glanced at Mustache girl, then at me, proceeding to let out another slight laugh.

"Heh, we'll get there eventually. But, that does bring me to what I wanted to say to you kiddo!," He stopped, and looked over at Mustache girl,  
"In uh, private. Don't worry Mustache girl, I'm not going to fight her again or anything. It's just a chat. She can tell you all about it once she's done, ok?" Snatcher explained to her.

Mustache girl nodded, while raising an eyebrow. Yet still, she left the room and decided to go to the pillow fort early, despite the fact I saw her bring out her journal while the door leading to my room was open.

Snatcher and I watched it close. He then turned to me, and snapped his fingers, engulfing us both in a cloud of purple smoke, which faded away and revealing us both standing in Subcon Forest.

More specifically, on a tree branch, high enough to overlook the whole sea of trees that was Subcon.

Snatcher sat on it, and patted a space next to him on the branch. It was pretty wide, so there was too much danger of falling, even if the drop would've been twice as bad as the one in the Metro. Still, I trusted him not to push me off, so I sat next to him and rested my head against his body.

"Check it out kid. This...is my forest. My, forest. This place is owned by me. Ruled by me. Governed by me. The people here have had their 'lives' shaped by everything I've done, as the most powerful spirit there is. In a way, it's almost like having my kingdom back." Snatcher explained, smiling sincerely down at his village.

I nodded and looked up at him, giving him a look of uncertainty.

"Yeah, I guess it is, huh?...Why do you say this?" I inquired, confused as to why this had to be a private conversation.

Snatcher looked down at me, giving me a bigger, almost...welcoming smile. A sadly unusual sight from The Snatcher.

"I've been around here for a long time, kiddo. When you've seen as much as I have, and you've got the rest of eternity to see more, well, you get a lot of knowledge. And what good is that knowledge if you can't ever, share it with someone?" Snatcher explained further, still looking at me.

Was...what...what was he saying? What did he mean? Still, he continued.

"Kiddo...you want to change me, for the better, and everything, don't you? Well, take a look at this forest. It's a far cry from what it used to be. And quite frankly, it wasn't ALL my fault...but well, I haven't exactly helped it either." Snatcher admitted, rubbing back of his head.

Wait, why was he...what was he getting at? What did he need me to do?  
I saw Snatcher take a deep, breath-like motion. Proabbly out of habit rather than actually needing to breathe because...well, he didn't.

"Listen kid. I feel like if there's one person who I could teach all this knowledge, to perhaps help bring Subcon back to it's former glory...it would be you kid. You've never stopped reaching to me, and well, I feel like it's time to offer you something in return. No catches, no clauses. Just...an offer. I'll make it worth your while, trust me." Snatcher explained to me, taking another deep...imitation of a breath.

I actually took a deep breath, soaking in the...not so fresh air of the swamp behind us.

"I'm all ears buddy." I told him, placing a hand on his ghostly back.

Snather looked back at me with a smile, placing his hand on my shoulder. I felt cold...so...so cold, whenever I touched him. But I never cared. It was all for a good cause after all.

"How would you like to be my...apprentice?" Snatcher asked me, with hope in his voice.

"Apprentice? What, are you too old to run the place anymore?" I responded with a cheeky wink, giggling.

Snatcher rolled his eyes, before turning them back to me.

"No kiddo. Obviously not. It's just that I think you'd do a great job! You'd know how to make everyone's after life here ACTUALLY good! Renovate the place a little? Maybe instead of living in a dead tree like I do, you could stay in one of those tree houses kids like? Heh, maybe I'd even teach you a couple things about making people sign contracts! How's that sound," Snatcher snapped his fingers, giving me my Shadow Puppet outfit, "apprentice?"

I looked down at my hands, coated in the strange purple and black material that made up Snatcher's body, then at the man himself. As I thought about the offer, something didn't seem to add up.

"But...why? Even if it's really cruel and mean, I thought you always liked how things work around here?" I inquired.

He let out a brief, faint chuckle as he turned to the view of his forest as he replied.

"Well, here's the truth kiddo. It gets REALLY boring! You have, NO idea how boring though. Day in day, day out it's just existing. Just, sitting down reading my books, before some poor soul wanders into my traps and their head pops off. After years of this, I've started to get kinda...sick of it. Don't get me wrong, that feeling of just, heh, SLICING their head clean off never stops bring fun! But, it's just not interesting anymore. It's never a challenge. I mean, why do you think I followed you up to your ship and gave you those Death Wishes? Because you've been the only contractor to peak my interest for years kid! No one has EVER beaten me in a fight, let alone HUMILIATED ME in front of my minions Killing you, was like this ultimate goal. This, feat that can't be topped due to how exhilarating it would be!...But it...wasn't exhilarating in the slightest. I guess did get...just a little bit, and I mean a little!...A tiny bit attached to you, kid?" Snatcher admitted with a sigh.

...I had no idea what to say...heh, well, I guess that's a lie.

"I KNEW IT! I TOLD YOU SO! AWWW, SNATCHER'S GOT A BFF! SNATCHER'S GOT A-," I began to tease him, until he stopped me.

He got up from the tree branch and pointed at me with one of his fingers.

"DON'T. PUSH IT!" Snatcher told me sternly, with a glare,very clearly embarrassed.

Meanwhile, I was still giggling, bearing my two cool ghost fangs (this is one of my favourite outfits, Mustache girl was blown away by it)!

"Hehe, sure thing...bestie." I winked at him, while he sat down and grumbled.

"Whatever. The only reason I'm making this offer is because of how BORING it gets down here! Seriously, teaching you all there is to know about Subcon could be fun! You never know! So what do say, I mean, you certainly look the part! Right?...Apprentice?" Snatcher offered, holding out his hand for me to shake.

I reached for it, as a smile wider than I'd ever had on my face was staring at him. Heh, I guess I really did look like him then, mainly due to the Shadow Puppet outfit, but still. Just as my fingers were about to grasp his...I froze. And My hand edged away from his, and I held it close to my to chest.

"Snatcher...you know I'd love to see how your forest works, and hear everything you'd have to say because all of that sounds really fun! I just...I-, I- I can't S-snatcher...b-because...once I get all those T-time Pieces...I have to leave..." I told him, as I tried to stop tears from building up in my eyes.

Snatcher had a surprised look on his face, as those yellow eyes grew for a moment, before shrinking back to normal size, looking away from me.

"Oh yeah I...forgot about that...sorry kiddo, my mistake. I guess...you've just been around here for so long, that I just got used to it...I'm pretty sure you've collected the majority of your Time Pieces by now, haven't you? Oh well, I'll be sure to have plenty of stories to tell you about how things are going down here when you visit! Right kid?" Snatcher exclaimed, trying to remain enthusiastic.

I sat there in scilence, rubbing my arm out of nervousness.

"Right? Kid? You, will visit? Won't you? You've got a lot of friends here, I'm certain you know that? Those bird guys, the Mafia weirdos, everyone in Subcon, me?...Mustache g-"

"Take me back to my s-ship Snatcher...please..."


	13. Arctic Antics

There was a long, awkward pause after my request. The two of us...sat there. In silence, on that tree branch as we both looked down at the people below. Dwellers flying around, minions doing chores around the village, nooses...being nooses. Still, despite all the death, life continued. Well, not literally, but it continued. Finally, Snatcher spoke again, as his eyes drifted towards me, as he shook his head slightly in disapproval.

"Not yet kiddo," Snatcher shifted a little closer to me, placing his clawed hand on my shoulder, "What's wrong?"

I looked away, as I hastily replied.

"Nothing's wrong...why do you ask?" I questioned him, unconvincingly.

Snatcher shook his dark head yet again.

"Something's wrong kiddo. You're not acting like yourself. Why don't you want to visit?" Snatcher pressed, leaning a little closer to me with a curious look in his eyes.

Yet, I continued to sit there, and desperately attempted to avoid his gaze.

"...So...you won't tell me, huh? Am I the reason you don't want to visit? Even after all we've been through? Speaking of which, are you really about to just leave all your friends behind, never to see us again? Are we just disposable to you? Don't you care about us, kid?" Snatcher interrogated.

I looked straight into his glowing, golden eyes as I took a deep breath, then responded.

"Of course I care about you guys! The people I've met on this planet are easily better than anyone on any other planet! This planet is just so fun to run around in, jumping and finding cool stuff and people to talk to! Of course I care!" I attempted to persuade him...attempted to.

"Then, why aren't you even wiling to at least visit? You have a spaceship, I mean, that's how you got here in the first place after all." Snatcher explained, anticipating my reply.

There was another long pause, as I tried to work out exactly what to say. Yet the words kept getting caught in my throat. Until, Snatcher spoke again.

"I don't get you kid. You put in all this effort to attempt to help me yet, you aren't even going to come back and say hi sometimes? Why? Why don't you want to visit? It doesn't have to be frequently or anything! It could even be like a, once a year type of thing if you're so hesitant about coming back. But that still leaves me with...why don't you want to come back?" Snatcher raised a spectral eyebrow, staring into my own golden eyes with his.

I held my head low, staring down at the grassy, grave coated floor far below us, as I felt a tear begin to form in my eye. I wiped it with my purple and black, spooky sleeve and turned back to Snatcher, giving him a devastated reply.

"It's not that buddy...I would love to come back here...I'd love to...but...but...S-snatcher? I th-think...I think I'd like to talk about this when I'm closer to leaving...I'd l-like to enjoy the rest of the time I've got here..." I asked the spectre, giving him a weak smile, as my two fangs stuck out of my yellow mouth (thanks to this Shadow Puppet outfit).

Snatcher looked like he was about to object, sticking a pointed finger up in the air, before lowering it slowly, and giving me a faint smile back, choosing not to let his impatientness get the better of him.

"That's!...Eh, that's fine kiddo. Just...make sure you talk about it. At some point. But, I guess I can get why you wouldn't want to now, what with fighting...whoever you fought today. Mustache girl never said who, but eh, they proabbly deserved it. Anyway, I've got some buisness to take care of tonight down here, so I'll just send you back up. Smell you later!" Snatcher exclaimed, trying to make the mood less tense.

I stood up on the tree branch, shooting Snatcher a thumbs up and getting ready for him to teleport me back onto my spaceship. Meanwhile, Snatcher's usual grin had returned and looked like he was about to snap his fingers together...Yet instead, he sighed, staring at me genuinely.

"I know that, we haven't always been on...oh who am I kidding, kiddo, I know I used to hate you. But I don't want you leaving the planet thinking I still do. Because, as much as I don't like admitting it...if you never came back...I'd miss you kid...but, if you ever change your mind, my offer still stands! It would be great to have an apprentice...I'll see ya around kiddo." And with that, Snatcher clicked his fingers together.

I reached out in front of me, in an attempt to stop him, and tell him how grateful I was that he was finally being a little nicer! And...how much I'd hate leaving him...after all, I'd never really had a best friend before...well, I guess I've never had one try and kill me either, but first time for everything right?

Yet, before I could I was already engulfed in a mist of purple fog, which dissipated just as fast, revealing me standing in the centre of my ship.

I turned towards the planet in front of my window, admiring it as I watched it from the centre of the room. It looked...so cosy there...and, everyone there was happy...well, most people anyway. When I'd leave, Mustache girl wouldn't have anywhere to go-...

My eyes widened and a frown immediately hit me upon realising that. Mustache girl would have to go back to her cave, all alone. She'd have no more access to food that wasn't stolen, assuming she didn't get beat up for trying to take some. Sure, she was tough. But living in a cave, stealing food and getting into fights everyday is no way to live...that's awful...

I turned back to my vault, scowling at it as I felt my stomach tighten. We'd almost gotten all the Time Pieces we needed, with only two more places left before I had enough to leave...hooray...

Well, at least Mustache girl was here. That made me feel a little better about the whole thing. I walked through my door, down the hall and towards the door to my room, which opened automatically as always.

I spotted Mustache girl with an awfully fancy blue feather pen, scribbling down something in a large red book, resting on her lap, with a smaller pink one beside her. She was sat in the middle of the pillow fort, facing the corner as she wrote. Despite the noise the door made, Mustache girl hadn't actually noticed me yet. So, I decided to take advantage of this and tip-toed across the edge of the fort and caaarreeeffuuuulllyyyy slid into the pillows below. I shuffled up to her, moving pillows out of the way as I did so with my submerged legs.

Yet, it seemed this was what caused my plan of scaring her to fail, as the noise caused her to turn around.

"Hey there Hat Ki-AH! SNATCHER!? Don't sneak up on me like that!" Mustache girl gasped, turning back to write.

Hmmmm...maybe Snatcher has turned into me before in front of her? Like with all the shadow puppet versions of myself during our battles? That made sense.

"Uhhhh, Mustache girl? This is just an outfit! Hahahahahaha!" I laughed, looking at the back of Mustache girl's head.

Upon hearing this, she immediately slammed both books shut, placing them into her robe, tucking them in between it and her cape. Mustache girl let out a slightly nervous laugh as she turned back to me.

"Soooooooo...whatcha' writing?" I asked her, causing Mustache girl to go bright red.

"Nothing!...Ok I was writing, but I was just uhhhhh, testing out this new pen Snatcher gave me! Speaking of which, that outfit is still reeally cool!" Mustache girl informed me, holding out the blue quil proudly into the air.

I tilted my head in confusion, scratching my chin.

"When did he give you that?" I asked her, with a thoughtful gaze.

Mustache lay down in the pillows on her back, while moving her head up slightly to look at me, moving her arms and legs around like she was making a snow angel! Well, more like a pillow angel.

"While you were asleep. We talked for a bit. He's funny you know! Heh, I'm not sure how you two get along, he doesn't exactly seem like the type of person I'd see you hanging out with. But, I guess there's no one who wants to hang out with a girl with a mustache, so I can't really talk." Mustache girl admitted, twirling her hair between her fingers with one hand, with other still making the angel.

I reached over to her, grasping her arm softly, and giving the girl a soothing smile.

"Hey. I would." I told my companion, noticing her go slightly red once more.

The rest of the night went as normal. I took off my Shadow Puppet outfit, switching back to my normal colors (you can't beat the classics!). And after a little...ok a lot of talking, we finally fell asleep beside each other. We were at peace...

. . .

. . .

. . .

I seemed to be having a lot dreams lately. And this was...certainly different. This time, there was no Snatcher to torture me. There was no white void like most dreams beforehand. There was...nothing. Just an empty, black, dark abyss. All I could see, was my spaceship. It floated away in the darkness, as it began to shroud and coat the spaceship in pure blackness. Until it faded away...into nothing...

There was something else though. Some kind of sound, coming from this vast void. It sounded like water. Not, fast flowing water or even splashing. But every so often, I'd hear a drip. Sometimes those drips would occur frequently, as it almost sounded like rushing water, crashing into the floor. And sometimes...those drips would be accompanied by a faint whimpering sound. Like that of a child. That's all I could make out, despite being quite confused. I mean, at least it didn't scare me half to death this time? Well, while that was true, for some reason this dream filled me with a looming sense...of dread.

. . .

I awoke slowly, as my eyes fluttered open, darting to my arm immediately to check for Mustache girl. Yup. There she was, breathing quietly next to me as she clutched my arm with a firm grasp. She looked adorable, sleeping like that. With her hood covering her eyes, lying comfortably in the fort as she clutched my arm.

I pulled her hood back a little, to reveal more of that face, and her soft blonde hair. I ruffled it, yet remained gentle, feeling the softness between my fingers, as a smile grew on my face while I stared at her.

"Have you told her yet kid?" I heard Snatcher taunt from behind me.

My smile disappeared as I gasped, quickly turning around to see him smirking at me.

"No! And when did you g-get up here?!" I questioned him, going slightly pink in embarrassment.

Snatcher muffled his laugh by placing a hand on his face, continuing to tease me.

"Around an hour ago. You two are just adorable by the way. The way you're both just snuggled up together on these pillows would be so heart warming!...If my heart wasn't frozen over and wasn't already decomposed by now." Snatcher explained, making light of his...situation.

I let out a nervous laugh, since that wasn't really my kind of humour. I looked back at Mustache girl, seeing her still sound asleep, as my mind drifted elsewhere...

I snapped out of my trance once Snatcher waved his claws in front of my face, bringing me back to reality.

"Hah! Oh kid, you're one of a kind aren't you? Anyway, I came in here waiting for you to get up because your computer thing in front of the stirring wheel wouldn't stop beeping while I was messing with your vacuum cleaner. It was giving me a head ache, and I couldn't find the button to turn it off." Snatcher explained, staring down at me.

My ears perked up at hearing Snatcher describe a beep. That was my radar I used to track down Time Pieces! Meaning another spot of white light on the planet had disappeared!

I put on my sprint hat and ran out the door, but not before waving goodbye to the still asleep Mustache girl. Anyway, I ran down the hall as Snatcher flew after me. I ran through the door into the main hall, and then up to my control panel and switching off the button I had labled "alarm." 

"Snatcher, how did you miss the button literally called, alarm?" I giggled, turning towards him.

Snatcher crossed his arms, leaning forward and squinting at the red button on the control panel.

"Oh come on! That's in your language! What's that even supposed to say? How do you pronounce that!? It reminds me of that illegible hand writing I saw in one of those video games you play! The one about blocks or something..." Snatcher complained, trying to remember the name.

I rolled my eyes at this, not surprised he couldn't remember it. Still, there were more important things to worry about! So my eyes darted to the planet in the window, inspecting the area where Alpine Skyline sat and finding that...it was still covered in light? Huh?

I decided to double check the radar, to see where exactly the Time Pieces had stopped changing the environment, finding that Alpine still had Time Pieces being smashed. And that this signal of now collectable Time Pieces was coming from one of the northern areas of the planet, near the ocean. Wait a minute...

"This is where I went on that cruise! In the ship that I-...had nothing to do with the destruction of!" I said aloud, gulping as I did.

Snatcher raised a non-existent eyebrow, and then shrugged.

"Well. Looks like that's where we're heading next? In that case, this'll be fun! They've proabbly got the Time Pieces all stuck in part of the ship somewhere. Hopefully they've removed that policy against stealing souls though..." Snatcher told himself, as I turned to him.

"Wait...are you coming?" I questioned, raising an eyebrow myself.

"Of course I am! I'm not missing out on this cruise again by getting boarded onto the wrong ship!" Snatcher reminisced, slightly agitated at the situation even now.

We both waited for a couple minutes for Mustache girl to wake up (I didn't have the heart to wake her...But Snatcher did). Then, after she did wake up and we both got ready, Snatcher snapped his fingers together and teleported us down to the location of the previous cruise.

The dock was the same as ever. Same palm trees. Same buildings surrounding it. Same salty sea air immediately hitting us as we appeared from the purple cloud of smoke. It almost seemed like nothing had changed...besides two, very key factors. For one, it was raining. Water was practically being shot the sky, as we were soaked after just standing for less than thirty seconds. Thunder boomed in the sky, as flashes of yellow in the dark clouds were appearing constantly.

"I should've brought my raincoat..." I muttered, pulling my hat over my face.

Mustache girl walked over to me and pulled out my umbrella from my pocket (yeah it fits in there, where do you think I keep all my pons?). Mustache girl opened it, and held it above us both as I giggled, feeling a little dumb, while Mustache girl chuckled with me.

"Ugghhh, you know, when I heard about this place I thought a cruise would be fun! But it's just cold and wet. Well, I guess I've dealt with worse in my cave." Mustache girl informed me, as I went pale from something other than the cold.

I wrapped my arms around myself, shivering next to Mustache girl as she wrapped her free arm around her body, while Snatcher watched from above us, putting two blue flaming hands up to his face.

"I don't know what you kids are talking about! I'm not cold at all." Snatcher laughed to himself, while Mustache girl and I just pouted at him.

I began to shiver a little more, as rain went in my eyes, making it hard to see, even despite the umbrella. Still, I felt a pit in my stomach as I thought of Mustache girl spending her days and nights cold and alone in that cave. Or how she would have to go back to it once all of this was over...

"Ugh, ok it's reeeaalllyy cold! Where's that cruise ship anyway? It's proabbly warm in there." Mustache girl suggested, shivering as even the umbrella began to wobble in her shaky hand.

I rubbed my eyes in an attempt to make out the surrounding area again, finding...some kind of shape off in the distance? It certainly looked ship-like. Yet it seemed larger. A lot larger. As steam was pumped out of various chimneys atop it. For a cruise ship, it didnt seem very appealing, so perhaps the Time Pieces were here, rather than on the boat? It was...possible. But where could they be? And who had them?

I squinted, trying to avoid anymore rain that could potentially go in my eyes, as I scanned the docks for anybody out in the horrendous weather. I managed to make out a Seal, flopping about on the edge of the dock, as well as...Fish Dude? He was lying down on the grass, with some sunglasses on as he faced the sky.

"Welp. That guy is the one we fight. I'm calling it. I don't like the look of him." Snatcher predicted, leaning down to us both below the umbrella and whispering, despite the fact the fish hadn't noticed us.

Somehow, I doubted that. Still, Mustache girl, Snatcher and myself all approached him carefully, just in case he actually did stumble across a Time Piece and was going to break it. We decided to shield him from the rain, since he was completely drenched in water.

"Hey?! What gives man?" Fish Dude complained, taking off his sunglasses.

He looked to the left of Mustache girl, finding me, as a smile placed itself on the centre of his fishy face.

"Oh hey dudette! Say, call it a sixth sense or some hippy stuff, but I totally had a feeling you'd show up!" Fish Dude greeted me, standing up and weirdly back into the rain?

Still, I gave him a thumbs up and a smile, while standing beside Mustache girl and Snatcher, both looking equally confused that I knew this talking fish.

"Hey there Fish Dude! So, we've been looking for these little uh, blue hourglass things? They're shiny, they make a little twinkling noise when you get near them, seen any?" I asked the fish politely.

Fish Dude was immidatley taken aback, as his pupils decreased in size and his mouth opened in surprise.

"Woah...did you like...talk to me, dudette?" Fish Dude questioned me, scratching the top (side?) of his head.

I looked over at Mustache girl, who smirked at me despite the rain, since her reaction was pretty similar to hearing me actually say something.

"Yeah, I uh used to be kinda...shy, went it came to that. But talking to my buddy Snatcher over here helped a lot when it came to conversation!" I explained, pointing at him behind me.

Fish Dude took one look at Snatcher and gulped as Snatcher slid his finger across his shadowy neck.

"I'm watching you punk." He threatened Fish Dude, as the fish began backing away.

I groaned, jumping out from under the umbrella and felt rain crash against me when I pulled Snatcher's arm away from his neck.

"Snatcher! He doesn't have the Time Pieces! Let's just leave him alone..." I sighed.

Snatcher wasn't accepting he was wrong though, as he placed his fingers in front of his yellow eyes and pointed them back at Fish Dude. Indicating he was keeping his eye on the fish.

"Yeah, I don't like uh, really know what you're talking about dudette. Was it that thing the red dude was talking about back in Mafia Town? Because uh, I wasn't really paying attention. Sorry dudette and uh, the dudes with her." Fish Dude admitted.

Snatcher and I shrugged, as I waved goodbye to him while we all walked away, until Mustache girl turned around that is.

"I'm a girl you know!" She shouted back to him.

But, Fish Dude wasn't paying attention. Already back to...rain bathing? I didn't know, maybe it was a sea creature thing? After all, it did seem a little fishy.

We decided that perhaps a better course of action would be to approach the Seal next, as they were the crew members on the last ship, even if it was a little odd there was just one here, we didn't think much of it as we went further along the dock, finding the Seal at the edge, as the waves and rain water splashed against it.

"Oh hewwo! Thew Cawptain wasn't expewcting too you see you so swoon! Are you wooking for thwa Twime Piecewes?" The Seal asked us all, in their usual adorable accent.

Yet despite their cuteness, it earned some concerned galances from us all as we realised what they just said. And how they'd have no way of knowing we were searching for the Time Pieces.

"Yeeeeesssssss?" I responded with a hesitant shrug.

The Seal then got a large smile on their face, as they clapped their tiny hands together in approval.

"Oh thwat's vewy good!," The Seal spoke in approval, as they took out a walkie talkie from behind their back and spoke into it, "Fiwre when weady."

"Oh peck-" Mustache girl and I spoke in uniscent.

The dark boat in the distance shot out a missile. It was your standard rocket, thin, flying through the air, possibly homing in on us. The works...ok well, I wasn't actually that calm about the whole thing.

"Peck! Peck! Peck! Peck! PECK! Ok, what do we do, what do we do, what do we do..." I asked myself, pacing back and forth, going in and out of the umbrella Mustache girl still held.

Mustache girl placed a hand on her chin, trying to stay clam and think of a plan...while also tapping her foot...and constantly darting her eyes around the area...an-ok in reality she was proabbly just as panicked as I was. That is, until she snapped her fingers together with a smile on her face, as she tossed me the umbrella. I caught it, despite the weapon being slightly slippery to grasp due to the water hitting the handle.

"Hat Kid! Use your uhhh, the uhhh, what's it called, the badge that let's you shoot lasers out of that thing!" Mustache girl ordered me, pointing at the missile in the dark sky, growing closer by the second.

Following her plan, I dug my hand into my pocket and feeling how wet my clothes were as I wriggled my fingers around in an attempt to find the correct badge. Luckily, I found the projectile badge almost immediately and frantically stuck it onto my (just as wet) hat and fired up at the missile. It exploaded in mid air, sending pieces flying down into the water. It kind of reminded me of the fireworks from one of DJ Grooves' movies honestly. Only bigger, more metallic and proabbly a lot more dangerous...even if those fireworks were already pretty deadly.

I placed an arm around Mustache girl and rubbed her with my hand. In both an attempt to warm her up, and to congratulate her on her quick thinking! Plus, I uh...really enjoyed being this close to her...

"Oops! Thwat didn't work? Send in more wockets pwease and thwanks" The Seal requested into the walkie talkie once again.

We all witnessed ten more missiles get shot out of the boat, each one moving away from another mid-air, making them harder to hit.

I aimed my umbrella at one and fired, which did hit, but the missiles were approaching much faster this time, as I could already hear them rushing through the air towards us! They came clearer into view, as they all headed straight for the three of us. Mustache girl attempted to throw some exploding dollars with her Nyakuza mask brewing hat, yet they didn't even leave a scratch. I even gave tried mine and still wasn't able to dent them! We had to think of something. Fast.

"*ahem*" Snatcher coughed into his hand, making us both turn and look at him as he started at us with an uninterested gaze.

Snatcher held out an arm, causing a large, pink circle to appear on the water's surface, directly in the way of the missiles. Without wasting anytime, he lifted his arm, causing a mix of every color imaginable to blast from the shape, blowing up every missile in the process.

Mustache girl and I let a deep breath escape from our mouths as we wiped sweat (and more rain) from our brows. We both turned back to Snatcher, thanking him.

"Thanks for the help buddy!" I told Snatcher with a smile.

"Yeah!...Wait why didn't you do that earlier?" Mustache girl asked, bringing up a pretty good point.

Snatcher just folded his arms and shrugged, looking off to the side.

"You never asked. But, you both know I wouldn't let you get killed by those things." Snatcher told us.

"Fair enough." I replied, shrugging myself.

We all turned back to the Seal, who was about to say something else into their walkie talkie, when Mustache girl pulled out her baseball bat and ran over to the Seal, wacking it out of their hands and far off into the ocean behind them.

Snatcher then flew over to the Seal and used one clawed hand to pick them up by their head, and squished their soft body between his finger tips, while Mustache girl and I looked up at them.

"Alright. I'm going to give you five seconds to tell me why you did that, and where the Time Pieces are, or else you're going to go...poof!" Snatcher laughed in the Seal's face.

"Pwease don't do thawt mistwer! I was juwst doing what the Cwaptain saiwd! He towd us the missiwes fewt wike cuddles and candy!" The Seal pleaded as they flailed around in Snatcher's grasp.

Snatcher grabbed the Seal's body with his other hand and squeezed tighter, as his grin grew even further.

"Ok ok! Owchie, I mean! The Twime Piecwes arew with thew Cwaptain! He has thewm on him at awll twimes!" The Seal explained, while still trying to wriggle out of Snatcher's grip.

Snatcher took away one of his hands, only to ready his claws and pull his arm back, as if preparing to take a swing. I was ready to jump up there and pull his arm down, to plead him not to finish off the poor thing! Sure, the Seal tried to kill us, but they didn't know that! However, before I could figure out a way to jump up there, it was too late...as Snatcher looked at his arm, his smile disappeared and...he lowered it, and dropped the Seal onto the ground, as he floated down back to us.

"Now get out of here before I re-think my decision." Snatcher spat, rushing the Seal away.

The Seal was sweating, yet seemed relived as they jumped into the ocean and swam away in the water, finally free from Snatcher's grasp.

"Woah! You didn't kill the Seal! That's amazing!" I congratulated him, shaking Snatcher's claw.

"I mean I WAS looking forward to some carnage." Mustache girl whispered as she looked down into the water.

I turned my head towards Mustache girl disapprovingly, making her pat my back and laugh.

"I was just kidding Hat Kid! Hahahaha!" Mustache girl laughed, making me smile in relief.

After a bit of laughing, we turned towards the ship on the horizon, which was somehow managing to stay afloat on the crashing waves of the storm.

"Well...how do we get there?" Mustache girl inquired to the group.

I merley looked at Snatcher as a response, who let out a small chuckle and snapped his fingers, teleporting us onto the ship. 

We appeared to be inside the boat, in some kind of storage room. It was dark, kinda smelled (it was better than standing out in the rain though), cramped and was filled with boxes and containers all labelled "Property of The S.S literally can't steal my Time Pieces". 

I walked up to one and picked it up, rolling my eyes.

"Wow. Subtle." I sarcastically quipped, opening the cardboard box.

However, there were no Time Pieces in that box. Just lots of cleaning supplies. Sprays, paper towels, soap and a lot more! Yet, no Time Pieces.

Mustache girl and I all began running around the room, opening and shaking a bunch of random boxes in hopes of finding a Time Piece, yet we had no luck. Meanwhile, Snatcher was eyeing something through the circular window in the metal door, pressing his face against the glass.

"Why did you even bring us here? There's just a bunch of junk!" Mustache girl asked, tossing aside another box of cutlery.

Snatcher looked back at her, moving away from the window.

"Well, I thought they would keep Time Pieces in a storage room. Because well, it's for storing things!" Snatcher explained to her.

"Didn't that Seal say they were being kept with the Captain?" Mustache girl argued, still searching.

"Do you know how vague that is?! I don't know who the Captain is, or what they look like! Other than...hmm...I remember them having pretty dead looking eyes? But that is not a lot to go off of! So I have no idea where to take you, and 'with the Captain' could've just meant on the boat somewhere, because I have no idea what the Seal meant before they swam off! Which is WHY I decided starting our search in a place almost every boat has, which could help us find at least SOME Time Pieces!" Snatcher explained, frustrated with their bickering and lack of success.

And despite searching thoroughly for another ten minutes, we still came up empty handed.

At this point, Mustache girl had gotten pretty agitated, while Snatcher and I were just bored, still opening boxes in hopes Snatcher would eventually be right.

But Mustache girl had grown sick of the monotony, and I only realised this when she kicked the door to the storage room down, revealing an empty hallway before her. Now, when I say empty, I mean it. All it was, was a metal corridor which lead straight into another door. The weird thing about the hallway though, was that the walls were all coated in strange dark holes. The only other noteworthy detail being that cameras and speakers decorated the corners of the corridor.

Speaking of which, one immediately darted to the door upon noticing it had been knocked down, as the speakers turned on. All three of us stepped into the corridor to hear the speaker clearer, wondering if they could give us any useful information to the Time Piece's location.

"What the? Hey! How did you get in that room? How'd you get on board in the first place?! Whatever, pup and uh...whoever you two are, you're not getting your Time Pieces back. I need them. Desperately, pup. You wouldn't understand, I know that for a fact. Sorry to have to do this to you, I really am...but you can't just go around sinking ships." The Captain told us from the speaker with an almost...grieving tone.

Immediately after he stopped talking, the door automatically slammed shut behind us, as the walls in the room had metallic spikes emerge from the holes in them, as the walls began to vibrate, then started to move closer to each other in an attempt to crush us. As I was at a complete loss for what to do, starting to feel sweat run down my face...


	14. Arctic Anarchy

The walls. The walls were closing in. The space began to get smaller and more compact every second. My head kept darting from the walls, to Mustache girl beside me, as she did the same, as our breathing quickened drastically every millisecond. I'm not claustrophobic, but we were literally about to crushed by walls coated in sharp, metal spikes. The thought alone made my blood run cold, nevermind actually being here! There had to be a way out somewhere...right?

I edged a little closer to Mustache girl, as I felt a spike begin to stab at my shoe, while the walls continued to edge towards us. Mustache girl and I were almost touching shoulders from how compact the room was getting. But there had to be a way out!...That's when I saw it. I mentally kicked myself for not LITERALLY TRYING THE DOOR ON THE OTHERSIDE OF THE ROOM!

With great haste I grabbed Mustache girl by the arm after equipping my sprint hat, dashing over to the metal door on the otherside of the room. Once I reached it, I released Mustache girl's limb from my tight grip, using both arms to grasp the handle of the metallic, windowless exit.

But try as I might, it wouldn't budge. The handle stayed locked firmly in place. Mustache girl ran over to join me, as we desperately shook the handle and pressed our bodies against the iron, in an attempt to break down the door itself. Yet still, it wasn't budging, despite the usual strength I possessed on this planet.

I began quivering in fear, tensing up and shutting my eyes, bracing for impact. Perhaps I'd be durable enough to survive. I doubted it, but Mustache girl proabbly wouldn't survi-...I in a state of panic, my eyes shot open and found Mustache girl beside me, with her hood down and sweating. Her golden eyes kept switching from the door to me in rapid succession, while she kept launching her body at the seemingly immovable door. I kept doing the same, as my shoulder began to throb in agony, and there wasn't any doubt in my mind that Mustache girl was feeling extraordinarily worse.

"Alright, you two are going to hurt yourselves. You can stop now." Snatcher informed us, in a somewhat bored tone.

I turned back at him, my eyes fuled with frustration and rage at his lack of care.

"WE'RE GOING TO BE CRUSHED SNATCH-," I turned and snapped at him...sort of.

I stopped mid sentence. Realising that at the pace the walls were moving, we would've actually been crushed by now. I glanced over to the walls of spikes with great causing, as I could feel their presence all around me still, so I was quite nervous to discover if Snatcher was right not to worry, or if he wasn't worrying because it wouldn't affect him.

Once my eyes eventually reached the right wall, I saw...not spikes, or even the old wall! But instead, there were thick purple walls in front of the old ones, as space reflected inside the purple blockades. They were the ones the Dweller mask, and only the Dweller mask could affect. And it seemed as if they were acting as shields, protecting us from a rather, um, gruesome end.

"You can thank me later kiddo. Now, let's head through this door. Mustache girl?" Snatcher motioned for her to come toward him with his hand, pointing over his shoulder as he flew in front of me.

Mustache girl looked around in amazement at the purple walls, almost mystified by them. We saw some back in Subcon Forest, but she never really studied them like she was now. Mustache girl placed a hand on one, as ripples appeared across the purple wall, as it she were dipping her hand on water.

"Woah...this is cool...and cold! Feels like I'm touching your arm or something!" Mustache girl explained, looking at Snatcher and shuddering.

Snatcher rolled his eyes and carefully picked her up by the hood, and gently placed her behind me, then returning to face the metal door at least twice the size of me.

I stared intently up at the back of Snatcher's head, raising an eyebrow and gazing back the door. I quickly looked over at Mustache girl and found she wasn't focused on that, but was staring at me with a shy smile.

My heart fluttered a little at the sight of her adorable little grin, as I looked back at her becoming...a little more lost in thought than I'd like to admit staring at her, while she stared back at me.

"I thought we were done for Hat Kid...I'm just glad you're ok." Mustache girl explained, rubbing the shoulder she'd constantly been bashing against the door.

I moved arm towards it, in an attempt to rub it and make her feel bet-

*CRASH*

A blaring, metallic screech echoed across the hall. Mustache girl and I turned our heads immediately, finding that the once seemingly impenetrable door had been completely obliterated, almost certainly from one of Snatcher's lasers. Shards of iron and steel coated the floor where the door once stood, as Snatcher rubbed his hands together at his handiwork, smiling at us both.

"Should we get going?" Snatcher smirked, bowing over dramatically and pointing to the hallway beyond the door with hand under his chest.

I nodded my head with great enthusiasm, skipping towards the door frame with Mustache girl following behind me with a confident stride. Through the door frame, there only stood a thin, black ladder made of yet another type of metal. There wasn't anything else beyond the door either, as the walls appeared to be just as narrow as the room we just left (thankfully without the spikes) and nothing was behind the ladder either, just more steel wall. I stepped further into the room and leaned by head back, facing the ceiling. Only to realise that this ladder went around fifteen meters up, and lead to a silver hatch atop it.

The only other noteworthy details in the 'room' we a couple speakers on the walls, as well as a security camera near the iron door. The camera was locked onto the three of us, which we all made sure to take note of.

Mustache girl and I began our climb up the ladder, while Snatcher floated along side us. I was actually the fastest when it came to this, almost at the top of the ladder in only a few seconds.

"Woah! How are you that fast?!" Mustache girl inquired, climbing herself trying to catch up to Snatcher since catching up to me seemed like a pretty un-achievable goal.

I shrugged upon reaching the hatch, looking down at her and holding onto the ladder with one arm.

"Not sure. I thought everyone climbs this fast." I admitted.

Despite my time on this planet, I'd never actually seen anyone else climbing ladders, since it's a pretty specific thing to look out for. Whenever the Mafia did it, I just thought they were slow climbers because of how heavy they looked, but Mustache girl wasn't much faster than them.

Snatcher meanwhile, despite levitating up towards me, had reached the top around a minute after I did. He was about to question my speed too as he raised his arm and attempted taking in a breath out of habit, when his eyes locked onto something behind me. I turned, seeing that he'd grasped the security camera and was about to rip it off the wall...which he did, as wires shot out bolts of electricity, and the rest of the wall cracked at the force he used to pull the camera off the wall.

He dropped it down to the bottom of the ladder, as it landed with a thud. After a little more waiting around, Mustache girl finally climbed up to us both. She wasn't tired though, just slower than us. I looked down at her with a smile, which she returned, along with a nod, signalling to me that I should open the hatch.

My head shifted back to it, grasping the circular handle in the centre of the hatch with one arm, and twisting it. The hatch quickly began to rotate and spin as it revealed...yet another steel ceiling.

"Ugh, it feels like every room in here looks the same." Mustache girl complained as she climbed further up the ladder, following me.

I jumped up from the hole, curious about our new location and hoping it wasn't another death trap, as Snatcher floated up from the hole now behind me, with Mustache girl close by.

The room itself was very visually similar to the others, as it had the same silver texture coating the iron walls, failing and floor (part of me questioned how this boat was managing to stay afloat from how heavy it seemed). Although once again, this room was pretty empty...sort of. We were stood on a barren metal platform sure, but upon looking to the right I saw that right next to us was a sight that made me get a familar giddy excitement I hadn't had all day. Platforms! Beautiful, glorious platforms! They were all layed out in the air, just BEGGING to be jumped on! Oh and there were a couple I need the Dweller mask for and some loose pipes I just KNEW I could latch my hookshot onto! Sure, all this platforming was above a vast body of frigid water but eh, I don't usually mess up when it comes to this kind of thing. At the end of the platforming section there stood a door attached to a wall, with this one appearing to have a small, square glass window, as some natural light poked through.

Without thinking a second longer I dashed toward the first platform, a little higher than the one we were currently standing on. So I jumped onto it, not realising until pretty late that it was a falling platform as it began to shake in the air after standing on it. But I'm usually ready for this type of thing, so at the last possible moment I jumped to the next disappearing platform, making sure to qui-

"OW! OW! Ohhh this cooooooolllllllldd! AGH!" I heard Mustache girl complain from behind me.

I looked down, noticing her freezing in the water as she desperately tried swimming out and getting back to the starting platform. Yet, she was having little success. Mustache girl's swimming pace was becoming gradually slower and more sluggish, as the cold ate away at her.

I dived down into the water below, no longer caring for the potential fun I could have platforming. Mustache girl was always more important than that. But she wasn't wrong, upon landing in the water with a splash that echoed throughout the whole room, I attempted resisting the freezing temperatures as I swam over to Mustache girl. The cold attacked me immediately after entering the water, as I felt the ice already creeping it's way onto my skin. Yet Mustache girl was practically coated in it, with her skin and clothes turning an eerie shade of light blue.

I pushed on, swimming through the water as fast as possibly could. While my arms felt like they were burning when pushing through all this cold. Each movement of my arms, each kick of my legs began to feel weaker over the course of a mere few seconds. Still, I had to make it to Mustache girl! I saw her still pushing on, she was a fighter after all, yet I doubted how long that would last, as her swimming began to get spuratic and panicked from her severe lack of warmth. Although my arms, with every swing, with every push of the water felt...more tired...more exhausted...weaker...and weaker...and weaker...

My strength felt as if it were being sapped away...that is, until I felt myself being lifted out of the water. I was still just as cold, as I continued to shiver while even being held up by the cape. I saw a black, clawed hand clutching Mustache girl slide underneath me, opening up and revealing her quivering body. She was still freezing, yet she was alive. And so was I.

I felt myself get let go of as one hand dropped me into the other. I hit the just as frigid feeling, clawed palm and landed beside Mustache girl. I only continued to shake further as I began to lift myself up onto my feet, slightly adjusting my hat as I did so.

I turned around wearily, still quivering ontop of the large hand. I faced The Snatcher, who was leaning down and looking at us both in his hand, shaking his head. He'd also grown in size considerably, since he needed to grasp Mustache girl and I, while keeping his palm and fingers still, so we could walk around.

"Kid, you could've just told me to fish her out of there you know? Whatever, let's just get you onto dry land. It's warmer than being near me, according the two of you at least." Snatcher informed us.

He flew over towards the door at the end of the platforms and placed us in front of it, shrinking back to a smaller size, like the one he usually took when in my spaceship.

Mustache girl immediately ran over and gripped me tightly, as her quivering body met mine in a hug. Suddenly, face began to warm up, that's for sure. And Snatcher seemed to have noticed this too, as he tried to stop himself from laughing and placed a hand over his mouth. I also tried to stop him from laughing by glaring at him, at my face warmed up further.

I wrapped my arms around Mustache girl, rubbing her body in an attempt to help us both heat up a little after her fall, as my heart raced at her gesture.

"Ughhh, it was f-fr-freezing down there Hat Kid! Th-thanks for coming down there to save me...you two Snatcher." Mustache girl told us both in apprication.

I didn't even care that I didn't get to have fun platforming. This was better. Easily. This...was heaven~

After a couple minutes of warming up (helped by Snatcher creating fire and placing it near us) we eventually felt ready to enter the next room...where the cold hit us instantly for the third time that day upon entering the next area. Rain was crashing down from the sky, and onto the boat's exterior, while the storm was still as present as ever, with visible lightning crashing into the ocean not too far away from the boat.

As the three of us stepped outside, we noticed the missile launchers which looked like traditional canons except more modern, with a slight blue tint and with a walrus logo on the sides of them, each one of them perched along the sides of the ship, facing outwards towards the ocean, with ten on each side. Mustache girl tried keeping her hair under her hood, as she raised her arm to stop the rain from getting in her eyes. Meanwhile I brought out my umbrella and opened it, yet kept being dragged backwards a little from the sheer force of the wind. And Snatcher!...Didn't do anything to keep himself from getting wet. Not that he cared.

We were about to start scanning the boat for another place to go, or some hint as to where we could find the Time Pieces, when the door behind us slammed shut. 

The three of us immidatley responded to this, with me closing my umbrella with great haste and pointing it at the door, Mustache girl getting out her baseball bat and clenching her fist and Snatcher grinned as he lit his two hands on fire, egar to fight the cause of the noise.

Yet we saw nothing that could've possibly shut the door, as rain soaked it and our trio...but as our backs were turned, we heard a shout.

"Fiwre!" A Seal commanded from what sounded like the edge of the boat.

We all turned, finding that the missile launchers had been turned around, and were facing us! With Seals sat behind each one, taking aim by moving the missile launchers around with their stubby little arms.

Before the one closest to us had the chance to shoot though, Snatcher made quick work of them by creating a pink circle beneath their feet (fins?) and blasting the Seal and their weapon into the sky. In an instant they flew upwards and into the clouds, yet just as quickly crashed back down, and into the chilling water the battleship was sailing on.

"Snatcher! Don't hurt them that badly!" I told him, running to him.

I leaned over the edge of the ship, keeping a firm grip on my hat as I did so because of the severe wind. Parts of metal bobbed up and down above the water's surface, as a Seal rested on top of one. I could tell they were breathing, which was a good sign. But the Seal was proabbly hurt...a lot...

I felt a twinge of guilt in me, despite knowing that they attacked us first.

"Why not? They're the enemy here! Besides, that Seal isn't dead or anything! Now, back to buisness!" Snatcher smirked, turning to face the other missile launchers.

I saw that Mustache girl was also taking care of one, wacking a Seal into the ocean with her baseball bat, before stopping for a moment to look at them fly off into the distance, as her cape flowed in the wind and rain.

I was about to go up to her, and try and see if we could figure out a better way to deal with them. Sure, it wasn't killing the little guys, but it did look pretty painful, and these Seals didn't seem like they knew what they were doing.

However, I got too locked up in my mind to notice the missile that was launched at me, only realising at the last possible moment when I glimpsed it from the corner of my eye. I jerked backwards, accidentally falling onto my back as the missile was about to hit me. Yet before it could, Snatcher jumped in the way and took the hit for me. It exploaded on his chest, yet didn't leave a mark as he just smirked more than before.

"Oh ho ho! You incompetent Seals can hit me with as many of those rockets as you want! I'm not blue, so I'm INVINCIBLE! AHAHAHAHAHAHAAA!" Snatcher cackled to himself, readying his next attack as he lit his hand on fire.

The last Seal on the left row appeared to take note of this from behind their machine, and pulled out a walkie talkie.

"Hewwo! We nweed thew scawy man two turwn blwue!" The Seal shouted over the crashing thunder.

Suddenly, the shattering of glass echoed from the inside of the ship. Snatcher in an instant turned from his usual purple and black color scheme, to being completely and utterly blue all over. Heck, even his face was a shade of light blue! 

"ALRIGHT WHICH ONE OF DID THAT!?" Snatcher roared at them all, growing in size as a crazed look formed in his eyes.

"I don't know Snatcher. Hmmm, but if I had to guess it's proabbly...THAT ONE!" Mustache girl shouted from behind us.

I turned to her, seeing that she had stolen a missile launcher from a Seal she kicked off the edge of the boat and was pointing it at the Seal with the walkie talkie.

Mustache girl rapidly punched a button on the back of the mechanism, launching twenty missiles at the Seal. It had no chance to react, as the missiles exploaded into it, causing the Seal to fly into the air, presumably landing in the ocean.

"Mustache girl, go easy on the-,"

"THAT'S THE SPIRIT KID! BLOW UP ALL THESE SEALS! TEAR THEM APART! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAA!" Snatcher bellowed, cutting me off.

I ran up to a missile launcher in an attempt to break it with my umbrella, hopefully making it so that we could beat the Seals without anymore harm being done...but, Snatcher shot out a group of red and black lasers from the ground, completely decimating the left row of Seals, as they all flew off into the sky, becoming completely completely invisible among the many grey clouds scattering the air.

Snatcher let out another laugh to celebrate, yet ended up getting shot in the face and recoiling slightly at the pain. He shook his head vigorously for a few moments, then turning to face the Seal that shot him.

The Seal gulped, sweating despite the cold. They knew what was coming, yet were too scared to fire at Snatcher some more, and ended up being the victim of yet another laser from the ground.

The two remaining Seals fired three missiles each at Snatcher, unluckily for them, he teleported out of the way of all of them...unluckily for him, they were homing missiles. The six rockets all exploaded into Snatcher's back when he faced them, causing him to fall onto the ground due to the force of the attack. This wasn't just my umbrella after all.

Mustache girl responded to this by shooting two missiles of her own at the Seals, which flew through the air and landed into their missile launchers, causing them to break and left the Seals defenceless.

The Snatcher began to get back up after hearing the explosion, facing the Seals with a grin on his ocean blue face, as that crazed look in his eye came back in full force.

"Ooohhhh I'm going to enjoy this." Snatcher muttered to himself.

He flew over to the Seals in a sudden burst of energy and lifted them off the ground and into the air with him. The Seals were frantically squirming around in his claws, in desperate attempts to jump down, yet had no success as Snatcher lifted them fifteen feet into the air.

"AHAHAHHAAHHAHAAAAA! Oh, you REALLY thought you could get away with a stunt like that? WELL THINK AGAIN PALS, BECAUSE YOU'RE ABOUT TO HAVE A BUMPY RIDE DO-," Yet, Snatcher was cut off by the sound of shattering glass.

It sounded...closer, this time. I looked to my right, finding Mustache girl hadn't noticed and that she was still staring up at Snatcher like I was. She had a slight grimace on her face, as she stared at the two Seals she likely thought were about to die. On one hand, I was glad that Mustache girl was actually kidding earlier when she said she wanted to see some carnage. But on the other...I did not like seeing Snatcher mad, especially not at the Seals (they tried to kill us, but they're too cute to be mad at...not for Snatcher though).

Strangely, Snatcher looked almost...afraid? His grin was gone, replaced with a look of uncertainty as his ghostly tail began to quiver in the air...that's when he started to fall.

Mustache girl jumped away from the missile launcher, and I dived towards the left of the ship with her as Snatcher slammed violently onto the ground, destroying the two missile launchers he collapsed onto. He still grasped the Seals, yet his looser grip upon smashing against the floor allowed them to flop out of his hands, running away and into the door that the three of us originally came through.

I ran over to him, with Mustache girl following close behind. I picked up his large, icy blue hand and shook it in a panic, as I started to sweat. He can only be hurt when he's blue...and does that mean he can...he can...

"Uggghhh, what happened?" Snatcher groaned, rubbing his head with his right arm.

He began to get up, as his body began to slowly lift into the air...only to crash down yet again after barely getting off the ground.

"What the? Snatcher, what's going on?" I inquired grabbing his hand yet again as Snatcher lay on his stomach this time.

He tried pushing his body up off the ground yet again, but this time wasn't even able to make it into the air. His tail just seemed...stuck to the floor, as he almost reminded me of some kind of snake.

"How am I supposed to know?! One minute I'm in the air, ready to make some heads pop off, the next I start feeling...incredibly weak, and now I can't even get off the ground! It's almost like having legs again...oh wait, no it isn't! This is degrading." Snatcher groaned as frustration filled his voice.

Mustache girl leaned over to me, and placed a hand over her mouth in the hope that Snatcher wouldn't hear.

"Heh, he looks like a slug." Mustache girl giggled mischievously.

...Ok I'd be lying if I start I didn't giggle at that a little too.

"I HEARD THAT!" Snatcher shouted, grinding his teeth together (all two of them?).

This, only made us laugh more. Snatcher just grumbled to himself, as he folded his arms and looked away from the two of us.

Yet, we stopped laughing once we heard the faint creek of a door opening, as something large began to make it's way over to us. I was the first to turn, only to find The Captain of the ship a few feet behind us, clutching a large brown sack in one arm, and a pair of cigars in the other. I hadn't seen him since uhh...let's just say, since I retrived the last Time Piece from the arctic. Which was something I always found strange, since I had seen Seals since then...just not him.

He appeared to have more bags under his eyes than before, with a strange look in his eyes. One of sorrow, one of resentment and one of disappointment.

He let out a large, drawn out sigh, staring at floor. Yet, he then weakly drew his eyes to me, ignoring Mustache girl who was likely wondering who he was, or Snatcher who had turned to face him, tilting his head slightly.

"Why?...Why did you do it pup?" The Captain asked me directly, with a weak, shaky tone.

I gulped, looking over to Mustache girl and Snatcher, neither of them giving me a clue how to respond.

"Do...what?" I questioned him, fearing the worst response he could possibly give, as a pit began to form in my stomach.

The Captain placed his cigars in his mouth, blowing out a large puff of smoke before continuing.

"You know what I mean pup. Why? Why did you...why did you sink my ship? I spent years pup, years of my life training to be a captain of a beautiful ship like her and what happens? It sinks. The S.S literally CAN'T sink, was sunk. By you, pup. Ever scince you did that, my life has gone down the drain. I started smoking, well, more than I usually do. I've been fired pup. I'm not a captain of anything anymore, and no one is willing to hire the guy who sank a boat that was literally impossible to sink! Not any cruise companies, not any fishin' businesses, heck I couldn't even land a job in a grocery store! For a while, I blamed myself for it. It was so stupid and irresponsible of me to just leave the steering wheel unattended. Of course one of the Seals would end up messin' with it. But...one day, I talking to the old crew like always when...that topic came up. And, they told me you were the one who sank the boat pup. Four of 'em saw you. They said you walked into the control room, and without hesitation you sat down and began to steer the ship straight into that iceberg...is that true, pup?" The Captain asked, taking in some more smoke from his cigars.

Mustache girl placed a hand in front of me, stepping forward and pointing at the Walrus.

"That's mental! There's NO WAY Hat Kid would do that! She, is the sweetest, most kind hearted person on this planet, and she's not even from this stupid rock! She loves it here! There is absolutely NO WAY she did that! Sure, I believe that your boat sank. But you absolutely cannot blame it on someone like her! She'd never put all the people on board in danger, or try to ruin your life or anything! Right kid?" Mustache girl defended me with a smile, as that pit in my stomach felt like it was eating me alive.

...There was a long pause after that. As the Captain stared on, continuing to smoke in anticipation. Mustache girl's confident smile slowly faded as I refused to answer, and I could tell Snatcher knew what I was thinking, as his eyes grew in size upon realising what I was about to say.

"I-...It-...It's true...I d-did sink the ship..." I admitted, staring down at the ground, feeling too ashamed to look at anyone.

Snatcher appeared to be at a loss for words at this, as he kept glancing around, waiting for someone to break the scilence. The Captain merely gave a slight nod, proabbly a little pleased I admitted to my crime...But Mustache girl's reaction is what truly hurt me. It looked like something had shattered inside of her, as a slient gasp escaped her wide open mouth. As her perception of me was drastically altered, all from a single sentence.

"At least you're honest pup. You know at first, I was angry when I found out. Furious, even. But I guess that anger just turned into disappointment. And disappointment into...confusion. So, why pup? Why did you do this to me? Actually, not just me, but the crew. And...all your friends?" The Captain questioned me, in a dumbfounded tone that showed his confusion and utter astonishment.

I felt like crying. I really, really did...but...I was guilty. I didn't deserve any pity for what I did...

"...F-for the sake of the Time Piece...I saw one, on the iceberg a-and...I didn't think it through, and crashed the ship. I-...I didn't mean to ruin your l-life, Mr.C-captain sir...I didn't mean to endanger anyone...but leaving that Time Piece there would've endangered more people if someone got their hands on it...and it would've allowed me to make it hom-...to the planet I'm from...If I could g-go back. B-back in time...I would've never, EVER done it again. I'd find some other way to get the Time Piece...b-but...I can't do that...it's too risky. Because, if I go back and change something, it could potentially cause the destruction of everything that exists as we know it!...These Time Pieces...they keep causing, so, so so many awful things...they cause so, so much harm...they cause good people to go bad, to do horrible things they'd usually never even dream of...and my actions to get them back ruined your life..." I explained, desperately trying not to let out any tears.

Yet, unexpectedly, the Captain hoped over to me...and handed me his sack. Upon opening it, I saw that it was filled to the brim...with Time Pieces.

"Listen, pup. I don't blame you for destroying my ship anymore, that's on me for leaving the steering wheel unattended. The Seals have almost crashed it before, yet you were the one who actually did it. I suppose it was bound to happen eventually I guess...but that's not the reason I ordered the Seals to take all these Time Pieces pup. The reason I did that...was just so I could use them, to spend just one more day with an old friend of mine. A Seal. My teacher and mentor...and my best friend. He died, lost at sea. And...I never got the chance to say goodbye...I know time travel is...complicated, and I knew that. As much as I wanted to. As much as I, desperately wanted to...I wasn't about to bring him back. Just...have one, last conversation. That's all. But, when I heard about you going around the planet and takin' them all back, I realised I had to stop you from taking the Time Pieces from me. So I used them to build this battleship. It was designed out of hate pup. Hate for what you did, and for the world's treated me. I felt like, with you gone, I'd be able to see my mentor one, last time, with no one there to take the Time Pieces...guess I should've just acted faster...whatever. I can't put up much of fight anyway, so take 'em. I guess. As for me, I'm gonna go try and find myself a new job again once you get rid of this boat and give that guy his powers back and stuff. It'll be hopeless, but life can't hurt me more than it already has..." The Captain explained, sighing and turning away from us, hoping towards the door.

I-...I was at a loss for words...but I wasn't about to just let him go, especially after everything I'd done to hurt him.

"Hey!," I shouted over to him, making The Captain turn around, "Go look for a job in Mafia Town! I'll make sure you get one there! I promise! You've got my word, I will help you find a new job! And the rest of your crew too!" I shouted back to him.

He turned around quickly, with a pair of raised eyebrows, and some newfound energy.

"You'd...You'd do that for me? Pup? After all I've done to try and hurt you?" The Captain asked, with his jaw seemingly on the floor.

"Eh, it's no big deal. I've forgave people for worse. I'm going to get you back on your fee-er, fins! Flippers? Whatever, you know what I mean. Just, make sure you go to Mafia Town soon! I'm sure you'll love it there, I've got the perfect job in mind!...It's...the least I could do..." I explained, as that pit in my stomach was still present, as I just wished I could help him see his friend...or get his ship back...but, I unfortunately couldn't do that. As much as I hated that fact...I really, I really wished I could.

"You've just made this sea dog's year! I'll be there by sunrise tomorrow mornin'! Oh thank you pup!" The Captain thanked me, rushing off inside to tell the Seals.

I reached into the bag, pulling out a Time Piece. I looked at Mustache girl, who's smile had slightly returned thanks to my gesture. And then Snatcher, who had a similar smile on his face, as he placed a hand on my shoulder.

"It's ok kiddo. We've all done...things we aren't proud of. But, I guess all we can do is just, move on. I have, er for the most part, Mustache girl definetly has, and I know you will too. Let's go home kid...and make sure to give me my powers back! And make sure I'm not blue either! Hahaha!" Snatcher told me, chuckling at his current predicament, making me smile just a little, as that pit in my chest was still ever present.

Yet, after a number of deep breaths, I finally threw the Time Piece on the ground, engulfing the area in a white light...


	15. Regret

The white light that consumed us slowly began to fade away, revealing Mustache girl and I standing in the centre of our spaceship...well, Snatcher was here too obviously, but he wasn't on the ground anymore.

"AHAAHAHHAHAHA YES! OOOHHHH THIS FEELS GREAT! Ooooohhhh, after being able to do stuff like THIS," Snatcher explained as he shot a laser from the ground, scaring Rumbi as it began to move in the opposite direction, "for so long, I don't think I'd ever get used to being stuck on the ground without any powers for any longer than I was! AHAHAHAHAHAAAA!"

Snatcher continued to cackle, as he began messing with his abilities a little playfully, testing them all out again. He began teleporting around the room rapidly, phasing in and out of the floor to do so. As well as turning into a shadowy version of me as he floated through the air, clapping his hands and making the area around him go completely black with only his shining face visible, and creating purple fruit from thin air.

Mustache girl and I began to giggle, as we weren't exactly used to seeing Snatcher so lively. It put a bit of a smile on my face, especially after explaining everything I did back on that boat.

"Hehehehe, you know you wouldn't have all these sick powers if you were alive right?" Mustache girl chuckled.

I did the same, but mine slowed slightly after what she said began to sink in. Did Snatcher ever tell her he wanted to come back to life? When? Why? These thoughts ran through my head as I noticed Snatcher had stopped his energetic rush around the room, floating down and instead laughing in an uncharacteristic nervous tone, rubbing the back of his neck (or was that his body?).

"Heh heh heh, well you know kid. There are uh, some, exceptions to everything. You both know I'd give anything to come back! Well, I guess almost anything. I'm not going turn on you two to do it. That's for sure...I just...wish there was some other way, you know?" Snatcher let out something resembling a sigh, looking away from us for a moment and looking at the planet through the window.

I turned to the left, and noticed that he was staring at Subcon Forest with regretful eyes. Seeing that...that...almost, human stare, deep within his soul...it...hurt me. I looked down at the bag in my right hand. The brown sack, which upon taking a peak inside I noted that it was (as expected) filled to the brim with Time Pieces.

I looked up at Snatcher, then at Mustache girl and finally at the sack in my hand. Mustache girl stared back at me with a look of pity and confusion, proabbly wondering what I was thinking.

Inhaling a vast amount of air, then exhaling it, I released a sigh as a frown formed on my face once again. Looks like that smile didn't last...but...what if...I could do something about that?

I gently placed the bag onto the floor and delicately pulled out a Time Piece. I stared at it. Almost glaring as I saw glimpses of history, and what would soon become history inside of the hourglass. I saw power. The power to change people's lives. The power to change...anything. Create anything...help...anyone...

I glanced back at Mustache girl, then at Snatcher as both of their eyes darted back and forth at each other, almost in a state of disbelief at what they saw in my eyes this time.

"With just...one. I could bring you back Snatcher...I could...I could fix Mafia Town!...I could, no, we could do anything we wanted! We co-," I my eyes widened as I realised what I was saying, while my heart beated faster with every word.

I gasped, almost dropping the Time Piece when instinctively attempting to place both hands over my mouth, but made sure to only put one over it as the other clutched the Time Piece.

"No! This was...this was the same power we've been trying to fight...we can't just USE it!...Even if...it could be for the greater good...NO! It could mess up reality as we know it if we go back and change just the tiniest thing! Who knows what could happen?!...But...there's also a chance...that it won't mess everything up..." I exclaimed, as my statements clashed with one another.

Mustache girl stepped closer to me, she looked as if she were at a loss for words. She held her hands out in front of her like she was about to start explaining something, with her mouth hung open...as no words came out.

I kept looking at her with a quivering lip. I cared about Mustache girl. So, so much...and here was the power to fix any problem she'd ever had. Right in the palm of my hand. Heck, with the sack alone I could proabbly help a couple PLANETS worth of people!...But...that's so risky...too risky...

"I-...But...I c-can't help...you're going to be both be stuck in the positions you're in because of me...Snatcher, you'll stay dead. And when I'm gone...I don't know if me trying to change you will last. I hope it will but, I'm not sure...and you, Mustache girl. You'll...you'll h-ha-have to back to that dirty old cave...with no food...no clean water...no warmth...and I could at least fix that by using a Time Piece before I leave. But then I wouldn't be able to leave! But...AAGHHHH!" I grinded my teeth at the dialema, clenching my fist.

Out of rage, I instinctively reached for the bag, and threw it into the air like I'd often do with my Brewing Hat potions...and I instantly regretted that action, as I saw a bag full of endless power about to crash into the ground.

Thinking extraordinarily quickly, I placed my Time Stop Hat on my head, and activated it. Sprinting towards the bag and diving to catch it before it hit the ground. It landed into my arms, as sweat dripped down my face, my heart raced, breathing in and out at a rapid pace while I mentally shouted at myself for doing something so stupid and impulsive.

I buried my face between my arms and into the carpet below me. There was so much on my mind, so much doubt. So much guilt. So much uncertainty...and I just wanted for it all to be over.

I felt the bag leave my arms as I saw Mustache girl take it, grasping it with two hands as she took a peak inside. Proabbly checking that nothing was damaged. Simultaneously, Snatcher picked me up by the cape and placed me back on my feet with his claws.

"Well, I certainly didn't see that coming. What's gotten into you kid? I thought you wanted to protect those Time Pieces, and now you're talking about breaking them? Sure, I'd appricate it but what about all that stuff to do with, you know, it being dangerous?" Snatcher inquired as he placed both icy, clawed hands onto my shoulders.

I looked away from him, frowning still, then turned to Mustache girl. She was leaning forward, clutching the brown sack of Time Pieces close to her chest as she awaited my response.

I began getting more and more nervous and decided that the space between my feet was the most comforting place to stare.

"I-...I just want people I care about to be happy. Like, everyone on this planet! And the fact that I have the power to make everyone's lives better but can't use it...it kinda...stinks. And it's frustrating. Really, really frustrating." I sighed, sitting down onto the floor and burying my head into my knees, groaning.

Mustache girl walked towards me with a slow pace, with the sack at her side. I looked up at her when I noticed she placed her hand on my shoulder...that always makes me feel better...it makes me all warm and fuzzy inside~

"Well, listen. Who's to say you can't help people without the Time Pieces? Think about it. Snatcher and I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for how you treated us by just being, well, you! And not just us! You helped all those birds too! And...ugh, the mafia. Look, my point is you've been helping so many people without breaking these things! So why start now? I mean, you seemed to make that Walrus guy pretty happy without using a Time Piece!" Mustache girl explained.

I couldn't believe what I was hearing. The fact Mustache girl, the one who had previously stolen my Time Pieces to achieve her own goals, was explaining how I didn't need to do the same really...spoke to me. Because if someone who's done that didn't need them, then why would I?

Mustache girl extended a hand out to help me up, which I immediately accepted grasping it and feeling the calming warmth of her skin. Once she helped me up though...I um...didn't let go. Mustache girl glanced down at our hands, then back at me, bearing a large smile at her to show my gratitude. I noticed Mustache girl look back down at our hands and begin to smile herself as her cheeks turned just the slightest shade of red.

I began giggling a little as thought about Mustache girl's encouragement, and held her soft, soothing hand. Which is when it occurred to me that I should proabbly go put the good word in for the Walrus Captain. So that way he'd hired for sure!...Hopefully.

I began to walk back to my room, humming peacefully as I still held Mustache girl's hand. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Snatcher lower his eyes and grin at me in a teasing manner. I made a quick raspberry noise at him, while continuing to lead Mustache girl towards my room.

"Wait shouldn't we put these back in the vault first?" Mustache girl questioned, lifting up the bag with her other hand.

I stopped and let out a slight laugh at my forgetfulness, as I saw Snatcher float behind her and...well, for lack of a better word, snatch the bag from her.

"I'll take care of these you two. Oh, and I'm going to check on my forest as well. Hopefully no Fire Spirits have decided to enter my domain while I've been gone. I won't be gone long, but hey! You two will have a bit of alone time together, and I'm sure you'll like that kiddo!" Snatcher explained as he directed his teasing at me.

Snatcher started floating towards the vault, but he stopped slightly before I responded, as if predicting I would answer.

"H-hey! I uh, have no idea what you're talking about! Hmph!" I told him, more than a little frustrated.

He turned around to look at me, and to emphasise my displeasure with his teasing I decided to cross my arms and turn around!...But uh, I didn't. I started making the motion of folding my arms with my right arm, yet as I lifted my left I realised I'd have to let go of Mustache girl's hand in order to do it. This made me once again giggle nervously as my face heated up, and put my arms back down to my sides.

"Heh, you really aren't subtle about this are you?" Snatcher muttered under his breath(?), as I was PRAYING Mustache girl didn't hear him.

"DON'T YOU HAVE SOMEWHERE TO BE?!" I exclaimed in a panic, as my face felt as warm as the lava cake.

Snatcher smirked at us both as he opened the vault door, dropping the bag inside. He then slammed it shut and began disappearing into the floor, sticking one hand up above him as he waved goodbye.

My eyes immediately darted to Mustache girl, who was shooting me a look of confusion.

"Sooooo, mind explaining to me what that was all about? And why did he say you want some 'alone time' with me or whatever?" Mustache girl asked curiously.

I felt a bit of sweat drip down my face as I heard her ask that (why can't my BFF keep a secret?!). I pulled at my collar, as it felt like every word I tried saying was getting caught in my throat.

"W-well, I um, it's uh, k-kinda ha-hard to explain. I um...I...um...I kind of...have a...a..." I attempted to confess, as my face practically became made of whatever this pink stuff was that kept appearing on my face.

W-was this is it? I was I about to c-confess? That...that I...wait a minute. I gazed at Mustache girl, and when she saw me turn pinker I saw her gaze at me...hopefully? Her eyes gilstened, her ears perked up slightly and she began smiling as if she were waiting for something. For me to say something...specific. Could it be tha-no. No that's...rediciulous. I needed to think of something. Something fast.

"I have a...a...a...desire to grow a mustache like yours. Yeah! Y-yeah! I um, get kind of nervous about it, which is why I wanted to tell you in private. I wish I had a mustache as cute-, uh I mean as cool as yours! N-not that it's n-not cute! I mean, uh I think I-...So yeah how do you grow one?" I asked her incredibly unconvincingly, while once again mentally kicking myself.

Mustache girl's smile went down a bit, as if she didn't hear what she wanted, yet broke into a laugh after hearing my full explanation as she cultched her chest.

"Hahahahaha! Oh Hat Kid, I'm uh not too sure if you can grow one? I don't know, maybe things are different for aliens, but where I'm from it's only the men that have mustaches." Mustache girl explained, still laughing a little.

I responded by merely raising an eyebrow, before speaking again.

"But you're not a boy. So how did yo-"

"I have no idea Hat Kid. But eh, I love my stache. Not really a beard person, so I usually have to cut those hairs off with a razor I stole from the mafia. Heh, although, I think you'd look pretty cute with a mustache. I kinda hope you aliens can grow one. Doubt it, but eh, stranger things have happened." Mustache girl explained, winking at me.

I felt my heart skip a beat...ok a couple beats, at the gesture. I couldn't stop myself from smiling at her, as I was entranced by Mustache girl and that...that pretty face...adorable...cool mustache...her long hair...h-

"Uhhh hello? Earth to Hat Kid? Hello?" Mustache girl raised her voice, while still keeping her playful tone as she waved a hand in front of my entranced face.

I giggling once again, while once again praying she couldn't tell how I really thought of her. Yet, she was giggling alongside me, so I'm pretty sure she couldn't tell...I hoped.

Anyway, after a bit more chatter I remembered why I was heading to my room in the first place, so I decided to actually, well, go into my room.

I lead Mustache girl inside my room as I still held her hand, bringing her towards my desk as I sat down in my chair. Unfortnatley having to let go of her hand as I spun around in it. Mustache girl watched curiously as I bent down under my desk and reached for a pencil, envelope and sheet of paper.

I placed them all onto the table with a thud, as I began to write on the paper, and read aloud what I was writing.

"Dear Mafia of Cooks-" I spoke, yet was interrupted by Mustache girl.

"Uggghhh seriously? Couldn't you write to that DJ bird guy? He was funny. Not the stupid mafia!" Mustache girl complained, as I heard pillows move as she swam around the fort behind me.

I rolled my eyes, and kept writing.

"Well, I told him to go to Mafia Town already, since I already have a job in mind for him! Now, where was I? Oh yeah! Dear Mafia of Cooks, blah blah could you do me a favour and hire a Walrus Captain and his Seal crew blah blah, they can drive fishing boats and stuff, blah blah blah, they're all hard workers, yadda yadda yadda, done!" I exclaimed, holding out the letter in front of me.

Mustache girl jumped out of the fort running over to me and examining the paper, reading the two full sides I'd written on. She quickly lowered the paper from her face and pointed at it as her mouth hung open in disbelief.

"How...how did you write so quickly? And it's not even in...whatever your language is called!" Mustache girl asked, dumbfounded.

I just shrugged and held out my hand, which Mustache girl placed the letter into. I took the letter and put it inside the envelope and licked it shut, giving it a small kiss for good luck.

"And what's with kissing envelopes?" Mustache girl questioned me, now even more confused.

I just laughed at that.

"What? You don't do that here? I've always done it. And I've always been pretty speedy at writing stuff! I don't know...maybe it's just a weird alien thing...well, from my perspective you guys are the aliens. But...Mustache girl. Am I weird?" I asked her this time, slightly self consciously as I played with my fingers and looked at the floor, holding the envelope under my arm.

Mustache girl smirked and patted my back, as she shook her head.

"You're not weird kid. I mean, this is coming from the girl with the mustache. But still. I don't think you're weird. You're pretty cool honestly!" Mustache girl complimented me.

I felt my heart jump at the kind words. She...she thought I was...cool? I beamed at her, with stars in my eyes and a wide open mouthed smile which stretched across my whole face.

"You really think so?!" I squealed in disbelief, jumping in the air a little.

Mustache girl placed her hands behind her head and gave me a toothy smirk.

"Of course! You're the coolest person I know! Sure Snatcher can shoot lasers and stuff, but you can do that too! And you're a time travelling, space travelling hero! Like, hello? Of COURSE you're cool! Plus, you're also adorable. The best of both worlds if you ask me." Mustache girl explained, as she hid her cheeks in her hood upon pretty much calling me cute.

Meanwhile, my heart was beating faster than a Mafia goon riding a rocket! Mustache girl thought I was cool! Not just that, but the coolest person she knows! AND I'm adorable?! Ok, that's what made my heart accelerate even further.

"Well, you're coolest person I know! You're so tough and strong and I can't get enough of that cute as heck mustache! Ooohhh and you're just so much fun to be around! You're...breathtaking~" I began to swoon over her, not realising what I was doing.

Mustache girl couldn't hide how red she'd gone under her hood, instead just accepting it and smiling with a face more coated in the color than her clothes.

We stared at each other...into the other girl's eyes...mesmerized...as we began to move a little closer to each other, while my heart kept on raci-

"I'M BAAAAAAACCKKKK! So, how's it going guys?" Snatcher shouted, emerging from the pillow fort, as pillows got flung across the room.

Mustache girl and I jumped backwards out of shock, looking at each other awkwardly. Snatcher stared at us expectantly, grinning as he waited for someone to say something.

"...Were you there the whole time?" Mustache girl questioned him, messing with her hair between her fingers, while I copied her.

Snatcher held out a hand in front of him, shaking it as if to brush her claim off.

"No, I just thought this would make a grand entrance. So, have either of you confes-,"

I was about to cut him off as I realised what he was about to say, when Mustache girl began coughing in a rather exaggerated manner.

"Oh uh, I must have caught something. Anyway, what were we doing? Oh yeah, we were just about to mail this letter! Give us a sec." Mustache girl told Snatcher in a over the top fashion.

I was about to say something too, when Mustache girl grabbed my hand and lead me out of the room. What was I going to say again? Oh well, it proabbly didn't matter, especially compared to the feeling I got when I was around Mustache girl.

She lead me back to the main hall, as I still clutched the letter. She stopped walking as we got to the bottom of the slide which went up to my mail room.

"Oh no I don't send mail through there! I just receive it! Here, let me show you how I mail stuff." I explained, leading Mustache girl this time over to my window.

Specifically, the door in my window. Mustache girl scratched her head in confusion, as I began folding the letter into the shape of a paper airplane, and slid my arm that clutched it under the wooden boards that blocked the entrance and carefully opened the door, only letting my hand outside. I squinted my eyes as I began aiming at Mafia Town, before throwing the paper plane out into space as I saw it fly down in the direction of Mafia Town.

I rubbed my hands together in satisfaction, turning to Mustache girl, who had her mouth hung slightly open as she weakly pointed to the piece of paper flying towards the planet below.

"I'm-...what-...how did you...is that how physics works?" Mustache girl muttered to herself.

I titled my head in response.

"What's a 'physics'?" I asked, with a sense of childlike curiosity...Well, I guess everything I do is childlike....for obvious reasons.

Mustache girl's mouth only hung open more, as she blinked twice out of being completely perplexed for whatever reason.

"Wha-...how did you build a spaceship if you don't know what-...you know what? I'm not even going to question this." Mustache girl explained, taking a deep breath as she did so.

I smiled cheekily at her.

"But didn't you just question it?" I asked her with a giggle.

"Oh shut up you! Hahahahah!" Mustache girl laughed, giving me a playful punch on the arm.

I did the same, and tried to hide the fact that I hurt my hand as I grinded my teeth after doing so.

After eating some cookies with warm milk, we eventually made it back to my room, giggling as we did so, while we had our arms wrapped around each other. Snatcher was sat in his usual position, looking up at us with a bored expression at first, yet quickly exploaded into laughter at seeing the two of us so close to each other.

"What's so funny Snatchy?" I asked him, as Mustache girl and both ran for the pillow fort.

We swam close to Snatcher's ghostly tail, occasionally throwing pillows at each other as we couldn't help but laugh and smile. Snatcher on the other hand bent down to us both, straight faced at first.

"Ok calling me your 'buddy' or your 'pal' or pretty much anything else is fine. But 'Snatchy' is where I draw the line. But, heh, what do you think is so funny kiddo?" Snatcher asked me with a grin.

I didn't answer him, instead looking away as I knew what he was referring too. Making me a little embarrassed once again. Meanwhile, Mustache girl was seemingly unaware of what he meant and began laughing herself.

"Heh, let me guess. One of those creepy nooses finally got a hold of someone's neck today? Hehehe, oh PLEASE tell me it was a Mafia goon!" Mustache girl giggled mischievously.

I shook my head with disapproval, making Mustache girl stop laughing instantly. But Snatcher, did not.

"Well someone actually DID get stuck in one today! Unfortnatley, it wasn't a Mafia member. Those guys have REALLY meaty necks though, so I'm surprised they don't fall into the traps more often! But, it was actually a fire spirit that got themselves stuck today! HAH! Serves them right! But, I think I've seen better today." Snatcher explained as he eyed me, then Mustache girl as if trying to imply something.

I rolled my eyes, about to respond to his claim as I raised a hand and pointed at him, but that became a yawn as stretched out my other arms, and then rubbed my eyes. With Mustache girl yawning after I did, lying down in the pillows on her back.

"Alright you two, I'd say it's time you both went to bed. You'll see plenty of each other tomorrow, I'm sure." Snatcher told us, placing his book down next to him and putting his hands our shoulders.

I was about to reject the offer, but another yawn convinced me he was right, as my eyes started to get heavier.

"You're right...come on Mustache girl." I told her this time, crawling through the pillows towards the centre of the fort.

Mustache scoffed and placed her hands on her hips with a sly smile.

"Since when does Snatcher tell you what your bed time is? I thought you made that yourself! What? Is he your dad or something? Pfffttt." Mustache girl snickered, as she let out another yawn.

I burst out laughing at the claim, as my giggles filled the room while I lay on my back, clutching my chest. Meanwhile, I heard Snatcher groan and saw him turn to Mustache girl out of the corner of my eye.

"Oh hah hah. Funny. Go to bed kids." Snatcher explained, going back to his book.

Meanwhile, I got up from me back, now sitting on the pillows as Mustache girl crawled towards me as we both giggled together.

"Tee hee, whatever you say dad." I teased him.

"GOODNIGHT! I need some peace and quiet so I can read!" Snatcher complained, burying his face into his book.

Mustache girl placed her hands over her face and whispered to me, moving closer to me in the pillows as she did so.

"Heh, he isn't denying iiittttt!" Mustache girl told me in a sing song tone.

Snatcher glared at us both, moving his head up from his book yet again, but then slowly went back to his literature.

I turned to Mustache girl beside me, desperately attempting to hold in her giggles, as I did the same. I reached down for Mustache girl's hand one final time that day, as I wrapped my finger around her's, as my now warmer face became a comforting feeling. Peace was at the forefront of my concious mind as I closed my eyes...And drifted off...

. . .

. . .

. . .

I found myself in a sea of blackness once again. Yet this time, sounds and voices were present. Audible ones. While the sounds of the water dripping, and the devastated child's tone had become more clear.

"Mafia says goodbye to little Hat Kid. It is such a shame we shall never see you again. Mafia was hoping to replace national punching day with national hat apprication day." I heard the voice of a Mafia goon explain.

"Tiny baby alien is leaving?! Without Mafia?! Please, take Mafia with you to alien planet!" I heard the Mafia member with the goofy glasses beg.

More voices came through the darkness, as the dripping water sounds only increased.

"Kid! Don't go! Our trains are never late because of you! Yeah, it's because you end up getting them blown up most of the time so there's no train to be late in the first place, but it's the thought that counts!" An Express Owl pleaded.

"We, C.A.W agents would like to ask you, one final, question. Why won't you visit us?...Ah, you cannot say? This, is perplexing! Truly, we are stumped as to why you are not able to return, or why you can't explain it to us! Goodbye, space travelling child." A Crow explained sorrowfully.

"Lass! Where are ya' goin'? Ya' can't just leave so soon! And why don't ye want to visit me? Or, anyone! Please lass, if yer really goin' forever, at least say goodbye! Hello?! Are ya' there?!" The Conductor shouted.

"Kid, the boss isn't too happy about this. He'd love to film a movie with you and that the other kid! Won't you at least film one scene for old times sake? It would mean a lot to him you know." A Moon Penguin spoke persuasively.

"Darlin' darling! Where are GOING!? Why aren't you comin' back?! I could visit you if you can't come back! No? Why not darling?! We could make so many sci-fi movies together! How about that romance idea you were so fond of?! No!? Darling please! Just promise me you'll you'll be back! It's not the same without you! Please!" DJ Grooves desperately asked.

The voices continued to shout through the blackness, as I saw a vauge circular shape begin to form in the darkness, growing ever closer.

"Hey kid! The boss uh, is pretty down about you leaving so soon. We would've loved to see him have an apprentice by his side...But, you know that. Right?" A Snatcher minion spoke hopelessly.

"Kid! You saved us from those strange flowers! We are eternally grateful! But uh, why are you going so soon?" A Nomad asked in confusion. 

"Mwiss! Pwease don't go! We will mwiss you vewy much..." A Seal pleaded.

The circular shape in the shadows of the dream only grew in size. It appeared to be mostly made of water, with one single green landmass on it...it looked like...a planet. But, the voices didn't stop.

"Kiddo...why did you have to go? I understand it but, couldn't you at least say why? And the fact you never told Mustache girl how you felt about her...ouch. People say love hurts, and I know from expirence that's true...but, that was just cruel. I'm...I never thought I'd actually say this, but I'm going to miss you kid. And I think...I think it's more than I miss Vanessa...I should've been better to you kid...maybe then, things would've been different..." Snatcher spoke with complete disapoiment and shock.

"Hey...Hat Kid...why did-...why are you-...no, it's my fault. If I wasn't so STUPID and didn't steal your Time Pieces back then, we wouldn't be here! Or, I wouldn't. You're gone now. Far, far away...I'll n-never see you again...I'm hungry...I'm cold...I'm tired...couldn't you take me with you?...No? Why not?...I-...and why did you never say goodbye?...I-...I'm so sorry that I drove you away Hat Kid..." Mustache girl explained, as I heard her brake into tears after her final words.

After Mustache girl finished speaking, the blackness disappeared in an instant. I found myself standing in an abandoned, wooden building. The air felt...familar, yet unwelcoming. I looked around the room I was in. It looked like some kind of living room? With a couple leather chairs made of an animal I had very vague memories of, cobwebs coating the place and the only visible light coming from a shattered window. What...happened here?

I slowly walked over to it, quivering with every step as I peered outside. I saw my spaceship, landed right outside. Beyond that was nothing but trees, dense forest around every corner. I turned back to the room I was in, noticing a desk barren of decoration behind me. All except for one, lone picture frame. As well as drawings hung up on the walls behind it.

I picked up the frame, as shattered glass fell onto the floor as I took out the torn picture from it's shell. The photograph was of a much younger version of myself, with a top hat covering my eyes, as two larger figures stood above me. One distinctly feminine, with brown hair that stretched down far to her elbows. And a male figure on the other side of me. Both of their faces had been torn out of the picture, with no trace of them on the floor.

I placed the picture back down, to take a look at the drawings on the wall behind the desk. My heart shattered at the sight of them. More specifically, one in particular. It was a drawing of me and everyone I'd ever met on planet earth, with one bit of text scribbled underneath the picture.

"Never forget them"


	16. People I Care About

I awoke wide eyed, breathing in and out at a rapid pace as I shot up from the pillows, looking forward towards the rest of the room. Can't I have a good dream for ONCE?! That house, that picture, ugh, that planet...all of it just made me feel so uneasy. I shiver ran down my body as I remembered this first half of the dream. Surely leaving this planet is a long way off. I'm sure of it. I highly doubted that, that future would come soon. R-right?

"Mmmmmmm...you...adorable~" I heard a voice whisper in a tierd tone close to me.

I looked down, finding that the source of the voice was none other than Mustache girl, who had her arms wrapped around my waist, snuggling me lightly as she slept.

It was then I noticed how dark it was in my ship, which made me realise I had woken up in the middle of the night. It uh, may have also been when I wrapped my arms around the sleeping girl next to me, cuddling her while trying not to wake her up. My heart fluttered at being this close to Mustache girl, while I nuzzled my head into her while smiling at her unconscious gesture, as I made my concious one. Causing my heart to flutter for every second it went on. I wanted this to last forever.

"You know, I was wondering if you'd ever hear her talking in her sleep." I heard Snatcher remark from behind me.

I turned around, spying him in his usual corner with a closed book on his lap, as well as a couple to his side. He was leaning forward towards me, grinning as he usually did while his face and candles provided most of the light in the room.

I tugged at my collar and let out a nervous chuckle, and gulped.

"Does she d-do this often?" I questioned him, moving slightly away from Mustache girl out of embarrassment that Snatcher was watching me, yet still kept one arm around her.

Snatcher shifted and leaned back against the wall, resting his head on his hands while continuing smiling and explained her behaviour.

"Oh yeah, all the time kiddo. It usually interrupts me when I'm reading. But I don't mind. That girl acts tough, but the way she acts when she's asleep is just precious." Snatcher continued, looking at her and smirking as he studied how close she was to me in sleep.

I ran my fingers through her hair slightly, ruffling it a little as I smiled and began to chuckle quietly.

"Heh, she's a lot like you huh? A tough cookie on the outside, but you're actually just a big softie. Hehe." I smiled, looking up at Snatcher now.

Snatcher scoffed, rolling his eyes as if to make it clear he was disregarding the idea.

"You are aware of how many times I've tried killing you, right kid? I wouldn't do it now, but I still did it. I'm not exactly someone you'd call soft kiddo." Snatcher remarked, leaning forward once again.

I shook my head. I found the willpower to carefully move out of Mustache girl's grasp (I disliked the feeling of moving away from her, but I mentally promised myself I'd re-join her in no time) and jumped over to Snatcher's side, giving him a hug, squeezing his spectral body tightly.

Snatcher let out a slight chuckle at the gesture, and began to wrap his long arms around me. I looked at him in slight awe, gazing into his closed eyes as he held me, trying not to be too tight with his grip.

Strangely enough, his body wasn't...as cold as usual. It was still pretty chilly but, it wasn't as frigid and almost painful as usual. I took this as an opportunity to savour the moment, hugging him in apprication, as a cheeky smile made it's way up my face.

"Hehe, you totally are." I muttered as I held him.

Snatcher did the closest thing he could do to an exhale, continuing to smile genuinley at me.

"Heh, I wouldn't say that. But you mean a lot to me kid. Don't you forget it...I'm sorry about...everything. And how I caused this whole mess." Snatcher apologised as he continued to hold me.

I moved away slightly, so I could place my hands on Snatcher's shoulders, looking at him in the eyes with a determined, yet smiling gaze.

"It's ok Snatcher. Heck, it's more than ok! It sounds kinda strange, but I'm glad you did that. Really, I am. If you didn't, I'm not sure I would've eventually gotten through to you about being nice! Same with Mustache girl too. You have no clue how happy it makes me that you two have become such great people. Really, you have! Well, you aren't perfect. But I'm not going to pretend I'm some perfect person either. What with the ship sinking and...throwing you off of my spaceship...yeah that was an awkward conversation when I came back to the planet and had to explain to you all that I wasn't going anywhere anytime soon..." I reflected on the past, as I rubbed my arm and grimaced at my mistake back then.

Snatcher chuckled slightly at this and shrugged.

"Heh, what can you do? We all make stupid decisions kid. I-...know that more than most people." Snatcher reflected on his past this time, looking away at his books.

He picked one up and opened it to the first page, pulling out a slightly smaller piece of paper from in between the pages. He held it between his fingers, and showed it to me. It was a picture of himself, of when he was still alive holding hands with Vanessa as they were both surrounded by hearts. It was a picture I recognised...as it was the same one, from Vanessa's storybook.

I gasped, taken aback both figuratively and literally.

"Where did you-, where did you get that?" I inquired out of shock.

Snatcher turned the picture around, staring at it somehow both regretfully and longingly. He placed it back into the book, carefully closing it and putting the book down.

"That Time Rift I went into...I found your diary and well, that was in there. I couldn't just leave it. I don't have much left from my past, besides a couple bits of furniture here and there. But...you've just got to...move on, from the past. I know that's something I have to get better at...even if I wish things went differently for me. Heh, it might be hard to believe, but I'd take living again over all the cool powers in the world. Trust me kid, it's not worth it. But on the other hand, if...what happened to me, never happened, I don't think I would have met you. And that's something I wouldn't miss out on for the world kiddo." Snatcher explained sincerely.

I looked up at him as my initially surprised expression turned into a small smile, while I looked up at Snatcher and felt his heart warming words enter my very being. He...he really had changed...wow...

"You're an awsome bestie Snatcher. The best of the best! I know we kinda got off on the wrong foot, but I'm so happy that...you're different now buddy. And we're going to do so much together! We'll go run around the forest, you can carry me as you fly through the air, we can watch one of my movies together!" I explained, getting really bubbly despite it very likely being late at night.

Snatcher chuckled slightly at the suggestions. Yet after he stop, he placed a claw on his chin and gave my ideas a thought, before responding with,

"I mean, I'd love to! You know, I've always wanted a kid, did you know that? Oh Vanessa and I were planning for years! But, nothing ever came of it. Anyway, that all sounds amazing kiddo, but, don't you have to go home soon?" Snatcher inquired, leaning forward towards me slightly now.

I looked away from him before answering, unable to look him in the eyes.

"Pffffttt, n-no way I'm g-going back to my home planet anytime soon! There's still plenty of Time Pieces left to recover! I'll b-be here for m-months!" I spoke, being rather unsure of myself as I kind of lost track of the amount of Time Pieces I had get to collect.

Snatcher scratched his head in slight confusion.

"Oh? Weird. That vault looked pretty full to me. Have you checked it recently?" Snatcher asked me, as I backed away cautiously, feeling my legs start to quiver at the sheer possibility of leaving so soon.

Sure, I'd spent roughly around half a year here, but it all felt so sudden. So there was no way that it could all just be over!

I thought this to myself as I gulped and walked away from Snatcher, heading towards the door as I sweated a little.

"O-oh d-did it? I b-better go check on it th-then! I'll be right back buddy." I told Snatcher with a quivering tone.

Not wasting a second, I placed my sprint hat on and bolted out of the room, diving out of the hall and walking towards the monitor next to the vault. It's blue light, as well as all the other flashing gizmos around my ship's main hall illuminated the room, giving it a unique colorful glow in certain areas.

"B-boop..." I weakly whispered to myself, as I was already biting my nails as I feared what would come up.

The monitor showed that I currently had fifty five Time Pieces being used for space travel, and with another tap I saw that my current Time Piece total was-

"Nine hundred?! I have that many!? Woah, I thought I had like, seven hundred. Eight hundred max! Guess I really do lose track of them..." I whispered to myself in surprise.

After fiddling with various buttons on the screen, I saw that the total amount of Time Pieces I started off with was one thousand. Which was just...woah. I never really thought about the exact number of Time Pieces I had a whole lot, despite their power and how important it was to protect them. Well anyway, one hundred Time Piece left to collect? That's a lot!

I turned away from the computer screen on my wall to face the planet through my window. The was only a single glowing piece of land left, meaning that's where all the missing Time Pieces were most likely to be. I walked over to my chair and sat down, resting my head on the pillows I tied to it, as I reflected on everything that happened here.

...But before I could even do that, the light on the landmass in front of me began flickering slightly, fading in and out as it grew dimmer by the second. I jumped out of my seat and pressed my hands on the glass as I let out a gasp.

"No no no no please don't let this adventure be over! Just stay bright! Just stay like that! Please please please just don't turn back! I can't leave yet! No no no..." I begged and pleaded the light that was vanishing before my eyes.

However, no amount of talking to the light was going to stop it. The light seemed to shrink and dissipate the more I tried clinging onto it, in order to at the very least just have a few more days with my friends...but the light was gone. Replacing it was, as expected Alpi-...huh?

I squnited a little, studying the layout of the planet. This was defiently where Alpine Skyline should be. As it's mountains and flags were so high they were literally visible from space, so it's location wasn't exactly something I'd forget any time soon. But this...was not Alpine. Instead of ancient structures sitting atop the mountains, there were black skyscrapers that shot far up into the atmosphere, with the largest being at the centre peak. Street lights illuminated the streets as their brightness almost seemed to equal that of the light that engulfed what was previously Alpine Skyline. I also noted that were plenty of multi-colored holograms littered throughout the cityscape. Mostly of cats, however there were a couple advertising...flowers? Of all things? I couldn't make out specific details from up here, but they definetly looked like flowers in the holograms...strange.

"Well, I guess this is where the journey ends...woohoo..." I sighed, getting out of my chair with my head hung low, heading back to my r-

A creaking sound from the roof of my space ship made me stop in my tracks, interrupting my train of thought. It was the creaking of floorboards, or roofboards? Still, it almost sounded as if someone was walking up there? But how? Why? Then, I heard a couple faint voices come from up there. It wasn't much, but I could make it out when listening veeeerrryyy carefully.

"Shhhhhh! We have to be quiet, remember?!" A distant voice ordered.

"Sorry. Do you think the boss will be mad?" Another similar, yet different voice questioned the other.

"Well if we make too much noise she will be! Come on! Hopefully she's still asleep if you haven't woken her up!" Another voice snapped at the other.

I heard slight tapping on the roof of the ship as whoever it was, was walking to wards the back of the ship. I needed to investigate this.

I ran back to Snatcher, who had picked up his book despite not currently reading it, hearing Mustache girl mumble in her sleep.

"You...soft...feels nice...mmm...protect you from...stupid Mafia...Hat...kid...." Mustache girl muttered unconciously, causing me to stop in my tracks.

My heart hadn't just stopped, it felt like it had just been frozen in time itself. I could only wish I had dreams like that about her...heh, well, I do enough day dreaming but um...anyway, I started at Mustache girl in the pillows, as my mind got completely side tracked. That is, until I heard a metallic clang from the roof of the ship, breaking me out of my trance, as Mustache girl began to sit up.

"Heyyyyy, I was a having a good dream there, what's with the noise Hat Kid?" Mustache girl asked me as she sat up, stretching and yawning. 

Snatcher saw the concern in my face as I listened intently for the sounds on the roof. So, he flew over to me, and looking up at the roof himself. However, I brought his attention to me by pulling on his arm, which made him look down at me.

"Snatcher, I think someone's up there! I have to go deal with them! If things get rough, I'll call for you, ok? I need you to teleport me onto the roof!" I explained to him as quickly as I could, tugging at his hand still and pointing at the roof, urging him to hurry up.

Snatcher nodded, and looked over at the pillow fort. I did the same and was about to tell Mustache girl I'd see her later, when I saw she had already jumped out of the pillows and stood at my side, baseball bat at the ready. She smiled at me and showed off her teeth, in that confident (kinda cute) way she always does.

"I hope you weren't thinking I'd just stay in bed while you fought off whoever is up there! I'm coming too. Ready when you are Hat Kid, let's go get them!" Mustache girl encouraged me with a thumbs up.

I smiled at her as my heart quickly began beating in at a hurried pace yet again. We turned back to Snatcher and saw him rubbing his hands together, getting ready to teleport us. And surely enough, with a slap of his hands, we stood atop my ship, as space surrounded us both.

But it wasn't just us up here, I noticed that on the roof of the main hall, there stood five Nyakuza members. One tall cat was grasping a saw, moving it up and down as they started cutting through the ceiling. 

"HEY YOOOOUU! QUIT IT!" Mustache girl placed her hands over her face and shouted to them all.

All five cats noticed us both, not taking kindly to Mustache girl's words. Which she proabbly should've saw coming. But looking at things in hindsight wasn't exactly helping when two Nyakuza cats leaped into the air, or lack there of. They both acended slowly, proving that jumping up here wasn't exactly the best idea.

But Mustache girl, liking to keep things up close and personal, launched herself up and moved towards the cats. She swung her baseball bat at one of them, however they countered it with their own bat that clashed with Mustache girl's. The cat pushed her back down towards the ground, but she wasn't letting them hurt her. So she used her free hand and moved her body backwards, clenching her fist and holding it at the same level as her head. Mustache girl brought her arm forward swiftly, as her fist met the Nyakuza cat's face, pushing them away from her and causing them to fall to the floor (or, roof).

Meanwhile, the second cat came flying down towards me. However thanks to it's slow decent, I figured I had time to charge up a laser from my umbrella. But as I was charging and aiming at the cat, they began nose diving towards the ground and crashed straight into me. I lost my balance and my umbrella was thrown up into space, which caused me panic immediately, because I was NOT about to let that thing float off into space.

However, the cat on top of me wasn't about to allow me to get up and re-take my weapon. The cat held it's clawed paw into the air, as it used the other to hold me by the chest on the floor. It pinned me down, while it's claws began to swipe down at me. I shielded my neck with my arm, as the claws cut my sleeve and caused a stinging sensation to run through my body, as I gritted my teeth. It started going for a second slice too, when I thought of a plan. Just before it could bring it's claw down yet again I switched to my Time Stop Hat, freezing time as I did so. I took full advantage of this ability, by lifting the cat's fingers off of my chest and allowing myself to get up. Once I was up however, I knew I had to get rid of this cat fast before the Time Stop ran out. Thinking quickly, I lifted the cat up into both of my arms and ran to the edge of the ship. I threw them out into space, just when the the effects of the hat began to cease. I watched the cat float away from the ship, as I used my strength to push it so far away that it wouldn't fall back down towards the ship, instead being engulfed by space as it tried reaching for the ship fruitlessly.

I turned my attention away from that cat, and towards my umbrella which was about to meet a similar fate. I propelled myself up into space, jumping and double jumping like I'd higher than I'd ever jumped before (my ship have extremely low gravity proabbly helped with that), as I just barely grabbed the handle with my finger tips, pulling it back down as I fell with a sluggish descent.

On my way down I saw Mustache girl already fighting another cat, punching it up into space and grabbing it's tail. She span around in circles, building up momentum as she threw it towards a second cat that leapt into space, sending them both backwards.

I landed on the ship, yet jumped off of it again to meet her as she began to descend slowly back towards the spaceship. 

"Wow! So cool...you're so strong and brave Mustache girl~" I complimented her, while my heart began fluttering yet again...look I can't help it ok?

Mustache girl smiled at me, turning a bit red, but that was expected at this point...and that was kinda cute too...Mustache girl turned her back on the cats she just sent flying to reply to me. But before she could, I saw one cat launch itself off of the other and shoot itself towards Mustache girl with their clawed paws ready swipe at her. I noticed this and pushed Mustache girl out of the way, counter attacking with a potion from my brewing hat as I got in front of her. The cat had no time to dodge the potion, and exploded when the concoction made contact with the slightest bit of fur on the cat's body.

I turned back to Mustache girl as we both continued to fall down back towards our spaceship. She smiled at me and shrugged.

"Thanks for that kid. You know, that was pretty brave and cool too. And well, everyone already knows you're crazy strong." Mustache girl complimented me.

I giggled, as my heart beat only quickened.

We both hit the floor, and looked around the ship for the final cat. Yet, it was nowhere to be found. We ran around the ship for any sign of the fith feline, and we turned up empty handed...until we found a gaping hole in the ship?!

Mustache girl and I looked down into it, seeing that it lead to the inside of the VAULT! And there, was the Nyakuza cat. They held a large white sack with the logo of the Nyakuza masks on it, as they stuffed it full of Time Pieces in a hurry.

Mustache girl began to fly up into the air, intending on jumping down and crashing into the theif with the Ice hat I gave her, as I noticed she just equipped it as she began moving upwards. However, I pulled back down, slightly suggesting a different strategy as I equipped my Time Stop Hat, and encouraged her to do the same.

With the combined powers of our hats, we fell down into the vault and snatched the bag away from the cat, as I emptied out all the Time Pieces back into the vault and onto the floor, shaking the bag dry of Time Pieces. As Mustache girl grabbed the smaller cat and held them by their large head, when we ceased using our Time Stop Hats.

"H-hey! What's the big idea! Those were for the boss!" The Nyakuza complained, as they began flailing their arms and legs around.

Mustache girl moved her face closer to the cat, making them stop squirming as she glared into their yellow eyes.

"You better have a good reason waking me up punk, or I'm throwing you out into space with the rest of your pals. Now, you are going to tell us what's going on or you're dead! I mean, I could do both, but I'm feeling generous today. Spill the beans. Now!" Mustache girl threatend the Nyakuza with a chirpy tone, likely making the cat even more intimidated as she quite happily described how she would kill them if they stepped out of line.

"Ok ok! I'm uh, n-not s-suppposed to tell you this b-but, these Time Pieces are something we need for the city! The boss says she'll reward people handsomely for getting her Time Pieces back. I w-was only going to take ten! I promise! We need the Time Pieces to power the city! At least, that's what the boss says...wait how do I charge my phone by connecting it to an electrical outlet if Time Pieces power the city...?" The cat started getting off topic, so Mustache girl shook them, still glaring.

I rolled my eyes at this. It was obvious to me Empress had no intentions on using them to power their city or whatever. They were going to either be sold to other criminal gangs for money, or just create a bigger mess of Alpine. Well, bigger than the one she's already made. I'm pretty sure this cat, despite their size, was an adult and even a kid like me could tell they were basically being used. Although that might have something to do with the fact that I was manipulated into giving Empress my Time Pieces back when I actually joined the Nyakuza...

I sighed, opening the vault door and using my sprint hat to run to the machine room, grab some wooden boards and nails, and used my speed to fix the hole in my ship in less than a couple minutes. While the cat watched me, still in Mustache girl's hands, with their mouth hung open.

Once I was finished, Mustache girl continued her interrogation.

"So...where is the boss you've got? And how easy will it be for the two of us to nock some sense into them! Or nock them off the planet, y'know whichever comes first." Mustache girl threatened Empress as she grinned at the cat.

They gulped looking away from Mustache girl as they answered her.

"Oooohhh I'm going to be in big trouble for this...the boss stays in the skyscraper at the centre of the Skyline. Top floor, you can't miss it...can I go now?" The cat pleaded, as they started to squirm yet again.

Mustache girl shook head, then turned back to me as I watched this all unfold.

"Well, looks like we know where we're heading next. To that tower! Skyscraper. Building. Whatever. Wait what city is this guy from?" Mustache girl asked me, as she started playing with her mustache as she realised all she needed was one arm to hold the cat.

"We'll go there soon. It's uh...well it's certainly new." I told her, as she seemed satisfied with this response.

After a bit of conversation about the situation, while the cat sat awkwardly in Mustache girl's hand, we eventually walked out of the vault. Snatcher was sat where he usually was, catching up on some reading. As usual.

"Hey there kids. Have you got yourself a pet? Because I'm allergic." Snatcher told us, pointing at the hat Mustache girl still held.

I looked up at him sympathetically.

"Reeeaaallllyyyy?" I asked him, feeling a little down that I'd never be able to take him to the metro sometime.

Snatcher rolled his eyes rather over dramatically, and shut his book, putting it down as he got up from his seat.

"Oh kid. Listen, how could I be allergic to your pet if I literally can't feel a thing?...When I'm not blue." Snatcher asked me sarcastically.

"O-oh..." I muttered, but then giggling at my mistake.

"You know I'm right here? Calling me your pet is kinda degrading." The cat complained as while they groaned about their situation.

We all chose to collectively ignore the feline, as we walked over to the main hall once again, so Mustache girl could get a good idea of where we were going.

She walked over to the window, staring at the city and taking in the sights from above. She seemed to almost take a liking to it, as she gazed in awe at the height of the buildings, and all the flashy and pretty holograms decorating the area.

Snatcher flew over to join her, as I follwed him, while we all gazed at this place. It seemed somehow inviting and menacing. The buildings were all a cold, unforgiving black. And the place was undoubtedly crawled with Nyakzua, plus they proabbly all destroyed Alpine with the Time Pieces in order to create the place. Yet, the hologram advertisements did a good job at making the place seem quite inviting! I mean, those cats are quite skilled at attracting tourists. Hmm...I guess I'm more of an intergalactic tourist...

"So Snatcher, have you been needing any new minions? I mean, it's either we give this cat to you, or throw them out into space." Mustache girl asked Snatcher, turning to him and away from the window.

The cat folded their arms, as they gave up on escaping Mustache girl's persistently firm grasp.

"I'm right here! Just let me go back hooooommmmeeeee! I bet there's no signal in space..." They complained, as they were promptly ignored.

Snatcher grew quickly tired of the cat, snapping his two fingers and engulfing them in his trademark purple smoke.

"Sure. That one does seem to talk a lot though. Hmmm...oh here's a great idea! I'll make them a Dweller, not a minion! That way I can shut them up and they'll still be useful!" Snatcher grinned, as Mustache girl seemed to approve of the idea.

I sighed, causing them both to look at me and back at each other with guilt.

"Alright, I'm not killing them. I promise kiddo. I'll just force them to clean the well or something. Now, are you two ready to go down there?" Snatcher asked us both, rubbing his hands together in anticipation for our answer.

I was just about to nod my head, when I felt something soft...and warm...and gentle...and-, well, I could go on, grasp my hand delicately. I knew immediately what this was, an uncontrollable smile stretched it's way up my face from ear to ear, while my face began warming up once again.

Mustache girl and I turned to each other, and when she saw what happened to my face, she turned a shade of red and giggled. We both nodded in uniscent to Snatcher's question, as I took a step closer to Mustache girl. I really didn't want to go down there now. I was right where I wanted to be. Hanging out with the three people I care about most in this world. But, for the good of the world, I had to go down there and get back those Time Pieces.

"Heh, alright you two. Hopefully it's not too dangerous. Well, I doubt it, but we can hope. I'm sure you'll find a way to have fun despite that though, I know how you two act after all. Good luck kids. You got this!" Snatcher encouraged us.

And with a small clap, we disappeared into a purple smoke cloud, as we were teleported down to the last place I had to visit on this journey...


	17. Nyakuza Skyline

As the fog that engulfed us on the space ship began to fade away, Mustache girl and I found ourselves in a dark alley way, as the sounds of chatter echoed from the end of the alley, while we saw cats walking past the crevice in the buildings. The alley way itself was strangely vacant, despite the fact that the Nyakuza usually liked to hide in places like this all the time.

I turned my head, noticing no cats further into the space between buildings we found ourselves in. Nothing but those purple rats scampering about and fishing food out of the trash, as well as some graffiti.

"Ugh, did Snatcher really have to bring us to such a dump? I mean, I've dealt with worse, but couldn't he at least have put us in the centre of the city? It's so dark in here! I can hardly even see you!" Mustache girl complained, pulling me along and towards the city streets.

The sky was a deep grey, as clouds all coated the lower atmosphere, blocking out the stars. If the light created by all these street signs wasn't already doing that. But it was enough light to see just a bit of Mustache girl. When she was close...honestly this alley way didn't seem so bad anymore.

I shook my head, snapping myself out of the day dream as I realised that we were getting dangerously close to the end of the alley way. My eyes almost burst from their sockets as I saw the hundreds of cats walking about on the streets, and two were talking right outside where Mustache girl and I were currently hidden.

I pulled back against her arm, causing her to jerk backwards and fall ontop of me, as I underestimated my own strength.

"Wha-hey! What was that for? I thought we have to look for Time Pieces! We aren't going to get very far unless we leave here!" Mustache girl explained, getting up and pulling me up with her, as the thought that she hadn't let go of my hand this whole time made my chest get all bubbly inside.

With my free hand, I rubbed the back of my neck in guilt out of annoying her.

"Sorry...I didn't realise you would fall...anyway, of course we need to leave the alley! But just look at this place, it's crawling with cats! You know, cats who have tried to kill both of us on plenty of occasions? So we can't just go out there..." I told her, as I continued to back away with her from the end of the alley.

Mustache girl looked back and seemed to realise this fact too, as she started back away slowly on her own accord, while her eyes darted towards me.

"Well what do you say we do?" She asked in a hushed tone.

I placed my free hand onto my chin and began to think. Then, I got an idea. I hated myself for this, but I took my hand away from Mustache girl and made my way over to a wall. But not before I noticed the shift in her eyes as I did so. It was very subtle, yet I saw her squirm her fingers around a little and glance at my hand. It almost looked like she missed it's comforting warmth, as I missed her's...But there's n-no way she was thinking the way I was...um...a-bout her...

Anyway, I jumped onto a wall and began climbing up for a couple seconds, then turned and jumped to the other side of the alley, I did this a couple more times, when I saw Mustache girl wasn't following me. I slid back down the right wall while I saw her completely wide eyed as her mouth expanded closer to the ground further than I thought was possible for humans. When I finally, made my way back down to her, she outstretched her arms and kept pointing at the walls, then back to me.

"Y-you, how did-, what did you...what was that?!" Mustache exclaimed as she became utterly perplexed at my simple action.

I tilted my head and gave her a confused look.

"I was wall jumping? Haven't you ever done it before? I thought you would've watched that show with the owl that said small people tend to be pretty agile at least." I told her as I scratched at my head.

Mustache girl shook her's rapidly, as she walked up to a wall in an attempt to try it herself. I jogged up to her, and smiled in her direction as I began going through how to do it.

"Ok so, you want to start by jumping. Like this! Then, go up to a wall mid air and start running on it, and as you start falling off, propel yourself onto the other wall and repeat it until we get to the roof. Here, let me show you again!" I cheerfully told her.

I demonstrated what to do, and when I hit the second wall I steadied myself and slid down, looking at Mustache girl expectantly.

"Riiiiiight. I'll give it a shot!" Mustache girl replied to my action with a newfound determination and ran up to a wall.

She copied what I did perfectly. She jumped in the air, ran up the wall and jumped off towards the next after her momentum ran out. I gazed up at her with so much glee and out of being so proud that she had gotten it so quickly!...That's when she slammed face first into a wall, as my tongue got caught in my throat and I recoiled in horror.

She fell towards the stone floor, yet the dumpster underneath her intercepted that as she fell on her back and into the rubbish. I ran towards the heap of garbage and practically dived in there in an attempt to fish her out. The place stank. And I'm pretty sure I touched a couple rats in there...ew. But, after a while of throwing black garbage bags to the side, I saw a couple squirming. I immediately launched them across the alley away from her, seeing Mustache girl covered in multitudes of wasted food and bits of junk.

"Uggghhh I'm not doing that again. This is gross. I think I landed on like, fifty hair balls. And the bag was open too...yuck!" Mustache girl began coughing.

I rushed over to her, and patted her on the back as I helped her get all that nasty air out of her system from the heaps of trash.

"I'm so, so sorry Mustache girl. We should've practiced this in the ship instead of goofing off the whole time. This is all my fault..." I muttered, as I began beating myself up about making Mustache girl fall and hurt herself.

Mustache girl shook her head and turned to me, smiling at me sincerely.

"Hat Kid, it's not your fault. I'm the one who kinda encouraged you to mess around on the ship as much as we did. Besides, it was a lot of fun! I wouldn't trade our time together for the world Hat Kid. Don't you forget it!," we shared a look of apprication for one another, as we gazed into the other girl's eyes for a moment, "now can we please get out of the rubbish?"

We both giggled at this and we hopped out of the dumpster simultaneously. Hmmm...But we still needed a way to sneak through this city...

Mustache girl and I began thinking of ways to get in there undetected, when I caught a glimpse of a Nyakuza mask hanging out of a trash bag. Which gave me an idea! I dove head first into the garbage and started searching around for yarn, fabric, bed sheets, cushions, any type of material I could get my hands on. I also found a can of purple spray paint, which was a big help.

Mustache girl leaned her head into the dumpster and tried to piece together what I was doing. After some twirling around all the bits of junk on my umbrella, I managed to stitch them all into two Nyakuza jackets, complete with pants, shoes and the tail! I even managed to glue a broken headband with cat ears back together!

"So, I left my actual Nyakuza gear back on the ship. But this should do! Sorry if it's a bit um, stinky." I explained, when I tossed her the home made clothing.

After I emerged from the rubbish heap, we both changed into our new attire. It smelled a little...ok, a bit more than that, but it was made with love!...That phrase was a bit more right than usual here-ANYWAY, it looked pretty close to the real Nyakuza uniform, so after we finished changing and I put our clothes in my hat, we walked out of the alley way and tried to play it cool, while also keeping our heads down and the hoods up.

The two cats at the edge of the alley, facing away from it had their noses shoot up when we walked past as they both grimaced.

"Ugh, kittens these days. ALWAYS dumpster diving to find those stickers." The shorter cat groaned as they crossed their arms and spoke to their companion.

Mustache girl and I exchanged a look of hope, as we managed to make it past them without them realising it was us. I tightened my mask as we walked, when the thought occurred to me that Empress would absolutely see through the disguise. Still, she didn't appear to be out on the street. And if the cat from the space ship was to be believed, then she should be in some huge sky scrapper. Which hopefully wouldn't be too hard to find. As I looked at Mustache girl, I saw her mustache sticking out of her mask, which could also blow our cover, since I'm pretty sure some of these cats would remember the girl with the mustache who rejected Empress' offer to be in the Nyakuza.

"Psssttt, you should proabbly tuck that under the mask." I whispered to her.

Mustache girl nodded, and lifted her mask over her facial hair. However, her stache pushed the mask off of it, as it fell back down her face. She tried pushing it into the mask, only to be met with the same result.

"Uh, I'm not sure how to say this but, I think it's too big...ugh, I should've shaved." Mustache girl complained in a hushed tone.

I shook my head with a giggle.

"No it's fine! Well, hopefully it will be. Anyway, I like your mustache over the mask. It looks cute! Hehe." I giggled, sweating a little after realising I just said she looked cute.

Mustache girl was an expert at hiding her face in her hood, which she did. She returned my compliment with a toothy smile (only proving my point) as part of her red face was exposed, yet she quickly pulled her hood over her cheeks when she noticed.

We continued to walk along the streets, which were very noticbly filled to the brim with cats. Even moreso than the Nyakuza Metro! Speaking of which, there weren't just Metro Cats walking around. But also cats from Alpine Skyline? Strange, especially considering that the Nyakuza had basically taken over their home. Although, they were outlaws even before this place had a huge city built on it. So I guess it made sense that they were just openly chatting to the Nyakuza, as they ate together, walked together and just...co-existed.

Speaking of the metro, just like it, there were food stores absolutely everywhere! With holograms around the streets advertising cats eating and drinking the products. Mustache girl and I were getting pretty hungry after all this walking around, so we decided to wait in one of the shorter lines at the plentiful food trucks.

Mustache girl and I made sure to keep our heads down, so that way no cats would really get a good look at out faces. Honestly I'm not so sure that matter too much, as the cats the did turn back in line to look at us, quickly clutched their nose and looked away, as they tried to move further along in line. Sure, we smelled thanks to literally piecing these Nyakuza jackets together from the trash, but a disguise is a disguise.

Anyway, after talking in line for a couple more minutes quietly (they could proabbly recognise our voices after all), we were soon at the front of the line as we stood in front of the food truck, as we were forced to look up at the person selling us our food.

As I did so, I tilted my head slightly, unsure of what to make of them. They certainly weren't a cat. That's for sure. They wore a robe that appeared slightly torn, and had large glowing eyes that stared at us from their black abyss of a face.

"What will it be?" They asked, with a clear accent in their voice.

I squinted at them, trying to tell what was familar about them, yet off at the same time. That's when it hit me. This was a Nomad. Yet, their eyes appeared to glow a dark purple instead of the usual yellow. And they stared at us almost lazily, swaying back at fort ever so slightly. Like they didn't know what else to do with their body.

"Uhhh, you're a Nomad right? How come you're working for the Nyakuza?" I whispered to them, as I tried to reach up to the counter to get a clearer look at them.

The Nomad seemed unphazed by my question, continuing it's slight swaying motion and distant gaze.

"What would you like to eat?" The Nomad asked yet again, as if they hadn't heard what I told them.

I looked at Mustache girl, who just shrugged at me. I gave her a nervous glance to signal something was up, but responded to the Nomad anyway.

"We'll get two juice boxes, some fries and some fish please." I finally responded to them.

The Nomad wasted no time getting our food, as they walked over to a box in the back of the truck, filled with juice boxes. As it prepared our food, I noticed them twitching and jitering while they walked back to the counter, with their eye lids flicking up and down in quick succession. It almost reminded me of the Badge Seller. Although, their eyes were a different color of purple to his body, so I doubted the Badge Seller had anything to do with it.

Still, we were handed our food and drinks, and I gave them the correct amount of Pons-

"Dollars." The Nomad interrupted, as I took out a couple handfuls of the green capsules.

I raised an eyebrow at them, causing them to just repeat the word. Mustache girl and I shared another glance of uncertainty as I placed the Pons back into my pocket. I took out my favourite kid's hat (also from my pocket, they're very deep) and shoved my arm into it, searching desperately for any of the local currency that I might have misplaced there. Luckily, I did find some, and handed it to the Nomad.

Mustache girl and I then walked off, as we noticed after the Nomad placed the money in the cash register, they began to just...stare forwards. Zombified.

I felt a shiver run through my body, while I peeled my mask back slightly to start slurping up the juice box.

"Creepy..." I whispered, while I sat down with Mustache girl on a nearby bench.

Mustache girl nodded as she shoved one of those "English chips" (whatever that is) into her mouth. While in my head, I began thinking about the inner meanings of all this food, as well as the combo of food I had ordered, like usual.

"Yeah, that...whatever that is, looked pretty weird huh? We really need to track down that building with the Time Pieces. What did the cat say about it? It was big...centre of the city...," Mustache girl started glancing up at the sky, looking at the numerous sky scrappers scattered throughout the area, while she shielded her eyes as best she could from all the holograms in the way, "Why are these stupid things so bright? There's enough cats on the ground, I don't need more in the air trying to get me to buy their rubbish!" Mustache girl chuckled, as she began eating her fish. 

I squinted, looking around for a building taller than all the rest in the city scape. She wasn't wrong though, there were holograms scattered everywhere in the sky, making it almost hard to see due to their light. After a while of searching the sky and eating my plate of fish and chips, I finally found a particularly tall building I suspected to be the correct one. As the logo of, "Le félin" stood atop one of the dark skycrappers. Another detail of the gargantuan building I noticed was that there was a circle of black clouds all gathering around it, blocking out some of the windows as they circled the structure...strange.

I pointed to the place, as Mustache girl followed my finger to look at the building a few streets away.

"That's the place!...Are you going to finish that?" I asked Mustache girl, pointing to her plate.

Mustache girl jumped off of the bench, ready to go as she stared at me in confusion.

"Uhhh, I did? The plate's empty Hat Kid...wait a minute...what happened to your plate? And your juice box? Hah, you didn't eat them did you? Hahahha...hah...you, totally did didn't you?" Mustache girl told me, realising that she wasn't exactly joking.

I simply nodded, getting up from the bench myself, yet deciding to spare her plate, as I started to feel quite full all of a sudden.

"Ok did not expect that. Anything else you aliens do I should know about?" Mustache girl inquired, while we both kept on walking towards the building, yet making sure to keep her head down and voice hushed as she asked the question.

"Hmmmm...Well, there are bones in my hair. But eh, I'd say you've seen most of it. I'm kinda surprised how similar we are actually!...Do you have bones in your mustache?" I asked her this time, as we continued to keep quiet and walk towards the skyscrapper, which wasn't too far now.

Mustache girl laughed at this, as she began playing with the right side of her stache and sticking her finger through it.

"What does it look like kid?" Mustache girl responded rather sarcastically, as she stopped playing with her mustache in case any cats noticed.

In response to this, I pushed my hand into my hood and pulled my ponytail out into view slightly, as I started running my fingers through that, despite the bones.

"I mean, you COULD have them. I can't really tell, hehe." I answered her with a smile.

Mustache girl was probably left with more questions than answers, but didn't get to ask any (at least at the moment) as we made it to our destination! As the clouds that circled the building loomed over us, which upon closer inspection, appeared to be tinted with a slight purple aura.

The building itself was...well simply calling it tall would literally be a massive understatement. The only thing penetrating it's black coloring, were all the windows that coated the place, showing the rediciulous amount of floors in place. The entrance was also made of glass, as the only way in appeared to be two large glass doors, which were guarded by two tall cats, which appeared to be native to the original Alpine Skyline, yet wore blue bandanas and their fur was pink in coloring. The pair were also armed with a couple of baseball bats, which lay perched at their sides as they leaned against the door and tapped at their phones in confusion. I guess guard duty must be pretty boring, huh?

Mustache girl and I turned away from them and leaned on another nearby building, as we whispered to each and tried to figure out a way past the guards.

"Alright, do you have any jars on you?" Mustache girl egarly questioned me, jumping up and down on the spot a little as she did so.

I lowered my eye brows and gave her a look, as I didn't want to jump straight to killing these guys. Or do it at all, for that matter.

"What if we try reasoning with them? These guys proabbly haven't seen us before, since they aren't the same type of cats as most of the ones around here. So maybe we could get them to let us through?" I offered a more reasonable idea, one that proabbly wouldn't get us a bounty on our heads...assuming we hadn't already.

Mustache girl clenched her teeth together and gave a shrug and a confused stare.

"I mean, I guess we could try? But what are we even going to say?" Mustache girl pressed.

"We...need to see Empress?" I told her, quite unsure myself.

"Like that's gonna work! We need some way to sneak in. Some kind of...distraction...hmmmm...no, I can't think of anything...Hmmm...oh! Watch this, heheh." Mustache girl chuckled to herself.

Mustache girl pulled down her hood and replaced her Nyakuza mask (the one that WASN'T fished out of the trash, like the one I was wearing) with her Time Stop Hat. She grabbed my arm by the sleeve and activated the immediately, decending the world in blackness with only the neon signs and holograms standing out amongst the landscape.

Mustache girl pulled me towards the building and walked right past the cats guarding the entrance, opening and closing the glass door behind her, but not before pushing the cat back into the same position they were in before, leaned up against the door, so that way they wouldn't get suspicious of how they just miraculously moved a couple feet and had nothing to lean. Still, we made it inside, as the air conditioning hit us immediately, even if the city being on mountains meant it was already pretty chilly.

"Hehe sneaky." I muttered, giving Mustache girl a smile which she returned, as we began inspecting the room we found ourselves in.

It appeared to be some kind of lobby area, with a Metro Cat sat at the front desk. Well, asleep at the front desk, with their head rested on their paw as they faced their computer screen. The room was white all over, with the wooden desk being one of the only exceptions to this. The other's were two metal doors of an elevator to one side, a pair of double doors with glass windows in them that appeared to lead to a kitchen, and a spiral staircase to the right of the room, which presumably went all the way up the building.

Mustache girl and I, still under the effects of her Time Stop Hat, walked over to the elevator first and saw a note attached to it.

"Out of service. Someone let their kittens in here. Fix it before the boss finds out. Use the elevator in the kitchen." It read, with an angry doodle of a cat face beside the writing.

Mustache girl and I looked over to the stairs and decided that going through the kitchen proabbly wasn't the best idea, as the room was more than likely going to be filled with cats. But not only that, they proabbly didn't wear hair nets either.

Mustache girl and I walked over to the stairs, as her Time Stop Hat ran out. Luckily, I put mine on before people could notice we entered the building. Not that many people were in here, it was just in case those guards at the front decided to turn around and saw us inside.

Mustache girl and I had a look up the narrow stair case, to find that yes, it did certainly look like it went to the top...it just might take a couple days to walk all the way up there. Plus, we saw another one of those weird Nomads with purple eyes walking down the stairs, carrying some boxes and blocking the whole stair case, due to it not being particularly wide.

"Looks like we're going through the kitchen." I informed Mustache girl, who nodded in response.

Yet I knew we would have to be fast, as I felt my own Time Stop Hat running out of juice (I'm pretty sure that's a phrase people of earth use?).

Mustache girl and I pushed open the doors to the room, immediately noticing how vast size of the place. This place was a chef's dream! There were walls alligened with stoves, pictures of food on the walls, likely serving as memories of previous delicacies. There were Nomads serving as chefs, all wearing lrge white chefs hats and a white robe. As well as one goat, who just had the uniform stuck ontop of one of their horns, with the chef's hat on the other. And in the centre of the room, were strangely enough...cameras? They were all pointing to a small...orange cat in the centre of the room, dressed in a chef's uniform...wait a minute.

"Cooking Cat?" I gasped, accidentally deactivating my Time Stop Hat in the process.

The room sprang to life in an instant, as all the twitching Nomads and Goat began walking around the room, preparing dishes. I then noticed two metal doors open at the back of the room, as yet another Nomad walked (if you could call how they moved walking) up to the sink, carrying a couple empty plates. None of staff seemed to notice Mustache girl and I in the room, as they were all quite clearly not acting like themselves. For better...and worse. As the Goat almost trampled Mustache girl and I in an attempt to grab some icing from the other side of the room, but luckily I was able to grab her and dive out if the way, and quickly helping her back to her feet as I realised we were stood behind all the cameras filming Cooking Cat.

She appeared to notice us both then, tilting her head to the side and looking around the camera as she spoke into a microphone off screen to wrap up her show.

"Well now, that wraps up today's episode of Cookin' Cat! I'll see you lovely viewers next time for when we create my world famous fish buffet. Bye bye now!" She explained, as she tried her best to look into the camera lens.

After she finished her ourtro segment, Cooking Cat ran over to the both of us and behind all her cameras, stopping the recording.

"Why hello there! I didn't expect to see you here kid!," Cooking Cat looked to my left, seeing Mustache girl stand next to me as she gave a shy wave, "Say, ain't this that girl who caused you so much trouble in the past?"

Mustache girl looked to the ground, twirling her hair with her nerves on full display, moving closer to me.

"Y-yes. That's me...sorry about all that..." Mustache girl gulped, clearly embarrassed that one of my friends remembered what she did yet again.

I shook my head, looking at Cooking Cat with a determined, confident gaze.

"She's different now Cooking Cat. I trust her more than anyone. We've been tracking down Time Pieces together, and I don't know if I'd still be here talking to you if it wasn't for her. She um," I reached for her hand, clutching it tight, "means a lot to me."

Mustache girl looked at me with pure apprication in her eyes, making no attempt to hide her red face, and I didn't either as we smiled at each other.

Cooking Cat smiled, and nodded her head.

"I understand. Well, miss red girl, if you ever need something cooking for you, I'm your cat. Doesn't matter if we got off on the wrong foot, you should be doin' anythin' but gettin' lost if you're helping the kid over here." Cooking Cat explained, smiling at her.

"Thanks guys...Alright uh, let's get back to tracking down those Time Pieces. It was great to meet you Cooking Cat! Er, meet you properly this time, I mean. Heheh." Mustache girl laughed nervously, as we waved goodbye and walked over to the elevator at the end of the room.

However, I stopped for a moment, and turned back to Cooking Cat, who I saw was already cleaning up after her cooking show.

"Hey Cooking Cat? Why did you leave my ship when everyone stole my Time Pieces? Did you take some too?" I inquired, slightly disappointed in her for leaving without saying anything.

Cooking Cat gasped, placing a hand to her chest and dropping her rolling pin back on the desk.

"Oh why heavens no! Of course not! Why, when everyone came in your spaceship all crazy-like, I was hiding under one of the tables in the kitchen! But then, some of these Nyakuza folk came in there and brought me to my feet. Why, I thought I was goin' to be taken prisoner or somethin'! But then the three lovely black cats said they were fans of this here cooking show, and wanted a couple pictures. Soon, the whole kitchen was full of 'em! And they all offered that I come down to this new city their boss said she'd build for 'em, and I just couldn't refuse! Why, I would've tried callin' you, but uh...let's just say the big cat upstairs isn't a very big fan of you dear. She wasn't allowing that. Speakin' of which, you should head on up and see her. Her office is on the top floor of this place, you can't miss it. I would presume that's where she keeps all them Time Pieces of yours kid. Sorry for worryin' you like that, that was absolutely not my intention!" Cooking Cat explained sincerely and apologetically.

I smiled at her, pleased that she didn't steal any of my Time Pieces herself as I walked over to the elevator with Mustache girl, looking back at her as the doors opened.

"It's ok Cooking Cat! I'm just happy you're ok buddy! See you later!" I told her as I waved to the cat, while the elevator doors shut, slowly obscuring me from her view.

Once it finally did, Mustache girl and I took a glance at the buttons, and our mouths hung open upon noticing that this building contained-

"One thousand floors!? Who on earth is going to use the stairs!?" Mustache girl gasped, pushing the top button as fast as she could.

I just shrugged, while waiting in the pure white box that was this elevator, studying it's few details and thinking everything over as it acended up the building.

The elevator buttons all glowed a neon yellow, yet the pushed button shone a crimson red, which I thought was slightly ominous. Even moreso, was the "Le Félin," logo, looming over all the buttons like a lion stalking it's prey...kinda fitting.

I did notice two other key details about these buttons though. Floor nine hundred was labelled "Lab," written in glowing pink letters above the button. And the only other labelled button was the one thousandth floor, simply titled, "My office. Important buisness only.," in gold letters above the button.

I sat down on the floor, waiting for the elevator to reach the top as I looked over at Mustache girl and realised she'd done the same. She had pulled her hood down, and was looking at me with a smile, I could tell, even from behind her mask.

"Hey, Hat Kid. Thanks for...everything you said back there. To um, Cooking Cat. Thanks for everything you've been saying about me, to everyone! You know, those bird guys, Snatcher...everybody. I-...heh, there's so much I want to tell you.," Mustache girl paused, looking away for a moment at the number above the elevator doors that kept rising, "I know we don't have much time left together, Hat Kid. You have to go back to your planet and I have to go back to...my cave, I guess. I don't know. Maybe I'll pay Snatcher a visit every now and then, but...," Mustache girl shuffled closer to me placing her hand atop mine, making my heart double it's speed, "I just want you to know that...this is the happiest I've ever been. In my whole life. Even when Mafia Town wasn't Mafia Town, this is still better than it. Spending time with you is. Going on all these adventures, and actually becoming a hero with you has been just...incredible, Hat Kid! When you leave in a couple days...I don't know what I'm going to do. But, I know I'm gonna miss you, Hat Kid. More than I miss...my parents. Wherever they are. I just want you to promise me something. Please, promise you'll visit us. I-...I don't know how I'd live never seeing y-you again, after all this..." Mustache girl explained, as she looked into my eyes, as her's were filled with hope.

...I...I wanted to cry. Everything she said up to that point had absolutely melted my heart...but...I had no idea how I was going to explain to her I-

*DING!*

The elevator sounded a noise, indicating that we had reached our floor. Mustache girl shot up from the ground, pulling out her baseball bat instantly, as we had no idea what awaited us on the other side. Meanwhile, all of this was still processing in my head, and now I had to face someone who desperately wanted to kill me as what Mustache girl said still filled my brain.

But, I summoned the will power to get up and stand next to Mustache girl, standing strong along side her as the doors opened, revealing Empress, sat in front of a long wooden desk behind a glass wall, with two twitching, red eyed Goats beside her. The only things on this desk was a black laptop with the Le Félin logo on it, and a familar potted purple plant, spewing out toxic fumes at a short range. As well as one, glowing Time Piece.

Empress leaned forward in her chair, with her elbows sat on her desk as her fingers all ran through one another. Upon seeing who was standing in front of her, she didn't even look the slightest bit surprised. Instead bearing her fangs for a smile, which stretched all the way across her face.

"I see you wasted no time coming up here. How brave of you two. Take a seat. Let's have a nice chat. For old time's sake. Or stand there and my men will trample you in front of me. What will it be, children? I'm dying to find out." Empress grinned, as she wrapped her hand around the Time Piece on her desk.


	18. The Empress

Mustache girl and I shared a look. Both of us were at a loss of what to do. We couldn't even hurt ONE Goat! Now we were being threatend with two!? Mustache girl's eyes began darting from me, to the Goats, and at Empress. I could tell she was starting to get more on edge by the second and to tell the truth, so was I. But, instead of showing it, I just nodded at her and moved closer to Mustache girl in order to reassure her.

She took a deep breath, inhaling and exhaling through her nose. Her gaze then appeared to transform from one of shock, to sheer determination, as her eyebrows lowered into a glare pointed straight at Empress.

We both walked over there, keeping a slow but confident pace as the Goats watched our every move, their heads following us as we sat down in the two black leather chairs Empress had in front of her wooden desk.

The chair felt surprisingly comfortable, as it almost subliminally forced you into leaning back in it out of sheer coziness, which seemed rather out of place, especially since Empress isn't exactly very welcoming.

Mustache girl was leaning forward in her chair, on the edge of it as she held her baseball bat in both hands, giving Empress a look of utter disgust. I leaned forward too then, subtly pointing my umbrella at the cat and praying I remembered to equip my projectile badge.

Empress stared down at us with a grin, as she rolled her eyes.

"So, what's on your mind girls? You should try relaxing a little, most people never get to sit a building as extraovgent as this one. In fact, I designed it myself. All with the power of your precious, little hourglasses. It turns out they hold a lot more power than just being valuable relics. I have you to thank for teaching me that." Empress taunted Mustache girl, eyeing her nefariously.

Mustache girl grinded her teeth and stood up on her chair, tightening her grip on the baseball bat, as she removed one hand from it to point at Empress.

"SHUT IT! I DIDN'T TELL YOU, OR ANYONE ELSE THAT BACK IN MAFIA TOWN, SO YOU COULD DO SOMETHING LIKE THIS! Now, give us the Time Pieces, and I'll CONSIDER not wacking your head off through the window!" Mustache girl demanded her.

One of the Goats stomped forwards, making me move away from them in my chair as I stared up at the hulking creature, but Empress held out a hand in front of them, causing the Goat to back away. Yet it didn't cease it's piercing gaze.

"No. That won't be nessisary beast. For now at least. If I were you child, I would suggest sitting down before I allow my new friends here to take you out of this world." Empress ordered her, smiling once again and bearing her teeth this time as she looked at her Goats.

Empress radiated a confident, cunning aura. But despite this, Mustache girl kept up her own threatening gaze. However, Mustache girl gradually began to sit down again, not taking her eyes off of the Empress for even a second. Only lowering because it seemed like the safest, and smartest thing to do in this situation.

Empress scoffed at the persistence in Mustache girl's eyes, as the snarling smirk on the cat's face mutated into a wide grin, bearing each and every one of her fangs out of sheer satisfaction.

Mustache girl crossed her arms, leaving her baseball bat on her lap as she waited for Empress to speak. I did the same, yet my weapon was directly pointed at Empress as it rested on my own legs. Being around her was almost the opposite of being around Mustache girl. It filled my stomach with an all consuming void, that ate away not just me, but everything and everyone it came in contact with.

The Empress stared at me now, with a look of a hunter, about to shoot some poor animal it caught in it's crosshair. However, she turned that gaze to Mustache girl.

"Well, now you've settled down child, I would like to ask you one, very simple question. Why did you reject my offer back in that desert? Despite the putrid smell you seem to have, the uniform fits you well young one. Now, I'm not necessarily one for forgiving traitors like your friend here, or people reject good deals like I so graciously gave you. However I would be willing to make an exception for you, if you were to perhaps, turn that weapon on her. As you are somewhat exceptional yourself. So what will it be child?" Empress asked Mustache girl as she attempted to be pursuasive.

Mustache girl and I shared another look. With the same, very clear emotions in both of our eyes, as Mustache girl regained her usual cocky smile when turning back to Empress.

"Is that a joke? Do you really think I'd ACTUALLY do that? HAH! Are you stupid or something? What? Was that big speech I gave to you not enough?" Mustache girl mocked her with a snicker, unfolding her arms and placing her hands on the chair with newfound confidence.

I smiled too, as I knew that if THIS was her plan, she clearly didn't think it through. Which was very unlike Empress, but a welcome change.

Strangely enough though, Empress let out a small chuckle through her teeth before responding.

"Oh no, it was enough. I was merely talking so you would stop squirming around so much in that chair. It makes it much harder to keep you there after all." Empress informed us, completely unphazed by Mustache girl's insult.

Before we could ask what that meant or do anything about it, I already noticed Empress had reached under her desk with one hand, as we heard the faint sound of a click. Almost like...a button being pushed.

Iron shackles errupted from the leather of the chair, gripping onto my wrists which I had foolishly placed onto the arms of the chair. They became stuck to the chair, as the metal shackles gripped them tightly, as I was unable to even lift my arms from the chair's. I attempted to wriggle my hands out of them, or pull myself out. However, when I tried standing up in my seat, I looked down when I realised my legs weren't going anywhere. As I saw that shackles had also exploaded out of the bottom of the seat too, giving a firm grip on my legs as the metallic substance they were made of glistend in under the room's light while it captured my legs, keeping the close to the bottom of the seat. My umbrella lay on my side, trapped between my body and the side of the chair, preventing it from falling off.

In a panic, I looked to my right at Mustache girl, seeing that she had fell victim to the same trap I did. As her shackles now gripped her limbs with an unforgiving, cold tightness. We were both stuck sat down in front of the crime lord, unable to escape or fight back. We were at her mercy. 

Empress walked out from behind her desk, with her arms behind her back and her Time Piece resting in them. Empress' grin only persisted, as she looked at us with fake pity, as if mocking us both for falling into her trap. She circled around us like a shark, and she could proabbly be mistaken for one with teeth like that.

She stopped behind Mustache girl and I, getting in between our chairs as she placed one paw on the back of each one.

"Just as I thought. You both are too confident in your ability to fight people like me, that you forgot one crucial detail. I'm smarter than you. But not only that, thanks to these Time Pieces, I'm now more powerful than you could ever imagine. Thanks to this newfound power, I was able to set up shop here in the skyline, as a way to boost morale for all of my cats. Many would've loved to visit this place one day, and I provided them an opportunity allowing them to live here. Under my rule of course." Empress explained, now walking away from us.

I began sweating, as I watched Empress walk over to the window that sat behind her desk as she faced away from us. I titled my head slightly in my seat, spying a mountain peak which had more buildings built atop it, with whatever used to be there being replaced by the cityscape.

"That was where that relic of a windmill used to be, children. Around my city you may have noticed that the lava, the bell and those bird houses are all nowhere to be found either. Although, those birds were put to good use in the kitchen.," Empress licked her lips animalistically before continuing, "Speaking of the old inhabitants here, the Lazy Paw gang were contacted to capture all the former residents of these mountains, which they did. For their sake. And as reward they got to live here among my Nyakuza. As for those they captured? Well, I have no doubt you've seen them if you made it up here." Empress stopped and chuckled, before making her way to back behind her desk.

I looked over at Mustache girl, as she was still scowling at Empress, growing more sickened by her as she spoke of capturing the old inhabitants of Alpine Skyline, while Mustache girl squirmed in her seat in an attempt to force her way out of her shackles. But it was no use, as even with my strength I wasn't able to do that. So instead, I decided a better option would be listening to where the Empress was going with this, and forming an escape plan as she did so. However, I seemed starved for ideas on what to do, coming up blank as I realised I can't really change hats, and even if I could, with my arms restrained it's not like I could throw a potion from my brewing hat...

It seemed that any attempt I could make to escape would be fruitless. That is, until I remembered my umbrella at my side. If I could somehow move my body in a way that would allow me to open it, and if I remembered to equip my projectile badge, there is a slight chance I could use it to escape...but what to aim for?...While I worked that out, I realised I'd have to give myself more time. So, I tried to keep Empress talking.

"Yeah, I saw what happened to the Nomads and the Goats. But, I'm confused. Last time the flowers just made the Goats super hostile and angry, and the flowers didn't even do anything to the Nomads! How did you infect them? And how can they just follow orders now rather than just being really angry?" I questioned her, while I did need to keep her talking, I was interested in what she did to these poor creatures...even if I was almost guaranteed to be disgusted by her answer.

Empress' grin only continued it's expansion upon hearing my question. She picked up the potted purple plant, holding it in front of her with a sense of pride and accomplishment, and then turning back to the both of us.

"Well, my cats and I have been studying these specimens in this building's lab. I'm no scientist, so I'm not exactly sure about all the intricacies involved in the process. But what I do know is that my cats did a lot of messing with the bacteria in the plants, inserting more obedient characteristics into those infected. Specifically, authority to any feline they come across. The twitching is just a natural side effect I didn't care to spend another million to get rid of during the process of creating these brain washed creatures. Speaking of which, we tested these on a multitude of different species. And it worked perfectly, with the only exception being cats, as they just went into an enraged frenzy when infected. But I didn't need to use it on them anyway, since I already have...connections, with the Lazy Paw gang. Besides that, my little plants perform their work flawlessly on anyone, no matter the species. Nomads, Goats, birds, my cats even kidnapped a couple people from Mafia Town to test it's effects on," Empress grinned even more, turning her gaze at the two of us, "humans."

I smiled confidently in response.

"Sorry Empress, but even if I look like it, I'm not human!" I informed her, sure of myself.

Empress' smile persisted as she got out from behind her desk and began walking towards our chairs, still clutching her Time Piece.

"Oh I wasn't referring to you child." Empress told me with a cackling laugh that sent chills down my body.

Empress made her way towards Mustache girl's chair, stroking her face with one of her claws, as Mustache grimaced and shut her eyes.

Meanwhile, I went pale with horror, and began quivering in my seat.

"Y-, you don't mean that you want t-,"

"Oh don't you worry child. I didn't want to do this, but her continued refusal of my offers isn't something I've taken a liking to. So...why not just have her join me forcefully? Then, once I finally make her kill you, under my command she will lead me back to your spaceship so I can steal all of your precious little hourglasses. Then, well, she's served her purpose. Don't worry child. Her death will be just as spectacular as yours." Empress taunted me.

Mustache girl gasped, leaning forward best she could towards Empress and spat in her face, making the cat snarl in response.

"You're sick!" Mustache girl snapped at her, just as appalled at her plan as I was.

Empress wiped the spit off of her face with a grimace and a scowl. She reached into her coat pocket, and pulled out a small golden device. It looked like a much smaller version of her rocket launcher, except this one had no rocket stored in it at the front. Instead, it had a small black hole at the front of it, where whatever could be shot out of it would emerge from. Above the gun-like device sat a glass container, which contained purple smoke, swimming around in the space the container provided.

Empress pointed her presumably gas shooting gun at Mustache girl's face, with a crazed smile on her face.

"This little device is another thing we created in the lab. Just one of shot of these fumes, when breathed in, will cause you to become infected. And then, she, will answer to me. Welcome to the Nyakuza, Mustache girl." Empress grined, as I saw her finger tighten around the trigger of the weapon.

My heart stopped in complete horror. I had to do something. Fast. Insanely fast.

Thinking quickly, I turned my attention to my umbrella. I leaned on it, and made the weapon stop facing Empress' desk, and instead the shackle that clutched my hand. Squirming around some more, I managed to use my hip to pull the umbrella back and open it...causing a laser to errupt from it, blasting my hand and the shackle on it. 

The metal grew hot, and flew away from the chair and across the room. My hand felt like it was burning too, but I ignored the pain. I had to act, and act fast, as I noticed Empress had turned her attention from Mustache girl, to me. I used my now free hand to remove the Nyakuza mask and cat ears I created, and replaced them with my Ice Hat. The transformation into an ice statue upon activating it sent me into the air, and broke through the metal keeping my other hand and feet glued to the seat. The ground shook once I landed due the weight of the ice staute, causing Empress to lose her balance and fall backwards, as the flower on her desk fell off it and it's pot shattered into pieces on the ground from the sheer force of the impact.

I took full advantage of this opportunity, and quickly emerged from the ice statue, transforming back to normal. However, both Goats in the room were charging at me, horns first, as they were completely unphazed by the ground shaking.

Thinking quickly once again, I placed on my sprint hat, picked up my umbrella from the chair and ran towards the back of the room, over to the elevator. The Goats followed me as they sprinted forward themselves, uncaring for what would happen to them, as they only wanted splattered against the wall. Once I reached the other side of the room, I stopped and faced the Goats, taunting them by sticking my tongue out and making a raspberry noise.

At the very last possible second, I rolled out of the way. The Goats crashed into the elevator, as sparks flew everywhere and they got their horns completely stuck in the wall.

I turned my attention back to Mustache girl and Empress, as I noticed Empress had almost got to her feet again, pulling herself up by grasping her desk. I switched to my Ice Hat yet again to make the floor shake, which caused Empress to lose her balance a second time with a snarl.

I used the extra time to throw my Ice Hat onto Mustache girl's head. Seeing what I did with it, she knew exactly what to do. Mustache girl became an icy version of herself, as the statue of her showed Mustache girl with her hands on her hips, as her cape flowed in an unseen wind behind her like some sort of superhero.

The statue flung itself into the air, and suddenly ripped Mustache girl's limbs out of their shackles before just as quickly crashing to the floor below.

Mustache girl threw my Ice Hat back to me, and picked up her baseball bat, giving me a thumbs up in approval.

"Great work kid, I thought I was dead! Now, let's show this stupid cat lady who's boss!" Mustache girl told me with a grin.

I brought a fist into the air out of celebration that Mustache girl was ok, as well as wiping some sweat off of my forehead, being a little tired I had to do all of that so quickly.

"Yeah!" I responded in approval, standing beside her chair with her.

We both looked to the ground where Empress was previously, finding...no sign of her? I blinked twice, doing a double take. She was...just here...right? Mustache girl and I both looked behind us, seeing that she hadn't tried to sneak behind us. As we only found the Goats, with their heads still stuck in the wall.

"Looking for me?!" Empress shouted menacingly.

We turned our heads back to where we were looking before, and saw Empress jump out from behind her desk, and land on top of it. This time, with her signature rocket launcher.

She fired a rocket at us both, and Mustache girl hid behind her chair for cover, having more time to react due to being further away. However I wasn't so lucky, as the rocket blasted me and sent me flying up into the concrete ceiling of the room. I then fell down as my face hit the stone floor, pain surging through my body.

Mustache girl pulled me behind the chair for cover, with pure rage emanating from her, as Mustache girl took the projectile badge off of my hat and pinned it onto her cat ear headband. Mustache girl proceeded to jump in the air above the chair that previously held her prisoner, and pointed the baseball bat at Empress.

"DON'T YOU DARE DO THAT TO HER!" Mustache girl shouted at the Empress.

Mustache girl proceeded to move her bat forwards, causing a blue laser to errupt from the tip of the weapon, which headed straight for Empress.

However, Empress managed to dodge it, rolling off of the desk and onto the floor as Mustache girl landed in front of the desk he just shot at.

I began pulling myself up to help Mustache girl in the fight, when Empress noticed me behind the chair, and took aim with her rocket launcher at me this time.

My eyes widened in surprise as I saw yet another missile heading straight for me. I dodged out of the way towards the left, as the rocket crashed into the ground behind me and exploaded, sending one of the chairs flying across the room and into a window, which caused it to crack.

Empress wasn't done with me yet though, as she jumped into the air and held her clawed hand behind her head, and swung it down towards me. In a panic, I put on my Time Stop Hat and froze time, as Empress sat stationary in the air above me, with her eyes burning with pure rage and fury.

Using the time I had in this slowed down world, I jumped into the air towards her and hit her in the chest with my umbrella. The Time Stop Hat then wore off, instantly returning the world to normal as Empress was flung into the ground. But this time, she didn't lose her footing. Instead using her claws to steady herself and immidatley get back up.

At this point she had compeltely forgotten about Mustache girl. But that all changed when she hit Empress in the face with her baseball bat. However, in that moment Empress gained a crazed, animalistic look on her face. As her left hand began to twitch. In an instant, Empress turned around and launched her claws at Mustache girl. She was delivering the killing blow...and Mustache girl reacted in time to quickly place both hands on either side of her baseball bat and hold it above her head, which blocked the incoming swipe, as Empress buried her claws into the wood of the bat, much to her surprise.

"What the-," Empress began, unsure what to make of the situation.

Empress was quickly cut off however, when Mustache girl pulled her fist back and launched it into the cat's face, forcing Empress' head to turn to the side. Mustache girl followed up on this attack by jumping into the air, and kicking her towards the large glass wall that acted as a window to the whole city.

The force exerted on Empress from the kick was so impactful, that the feline crashed through the window, as shattering glass fell to the surface of the stone pathways that made up the city's floor.

Mustache girl breathed in and out over and over, proabbly exhausted by physically and mentally, since the idea of being on the receiving end of one of Empress' claws is not exactly a very comforting idea in the slightest.

I ran over to Mustache girl, wrapping my arms around her and nuzzling my head into her shoulder, making me feel all warm and fuzzy on the outside and inside.

"You did it! You beat her!" I congratulated Mustache girl, still moving my head around on her shoulder with a smile, as I felt her soft, comforting hair.

Mustache girl shook her head, and wrapped an arm around me.

"No Hat Kid. We did. That escape from that stupid cat's trap was awsome! Oh, here's your projectile badge back. This thing definetly came in handy," Mustache girl then took the badge off of her Nyakuza cat ears, and place it onto my signature top hat, "You're pretty good a-,"

"Ugh...agh...h-...help...me..." A whimpering voice cut Mustache girl off.

We pulled away from each other in shock, staring at the other, completely stunned. We turned back to the Goats, finding it more likely that the voice had come from two creatures that can't speak, to the only other alternative. However, it seemed that the Goats had worn themselves out trying to get unstuck, and were grunting pretty lightly because of their lack of energy.

Mustache girl and I faced each other with a gaze that screamed complete uncertainty, before turning to look at where the voice came from. The window. More specifically, the large hole in the window that Empress fell through.

"Please...h-help...me...I don't...know how much longer...I can hold on..." The voice of Empress coughed and spluttered.

I held onto Mustache girl's hand for comfort, stroking it as we carefully made our way towards the hole in the window.

We looked down over the edge, and saw that the voice speaking was indeed Empress. Mustache girl's baseball bat had fallen off of Empress' claws, and down onto the city streets below judging from her empty right hand. As her left was hanging onto the building, her claws buried in between bits of metal that coated the, "Le Félin," logo on the skyscraper, as she slowly slid further down at brief intervals. It didn't look like she would last much longer either, as the rain now crashing down onto the feline was making it harder and harder to see, and her grip loosen.

She hopelessly reached her other arm towards us, yet just barley couldn't grasp the floor Mustache girl and I stood on. All it would take would be for one of us to just bend down, and save her...

"No way. Hat Kid, we aren't helping her. Let's go find the Time Pieces she stole." Mustache girl told me angrily, as she shook her head.

I looked Mustache girl, as she turned away and folded her arms, clearly the last thing she wanted to do would be actually helping her, especially after Empress just tried to kill us.

"Please! Listen children! I'm, I'm sorry ok! Help me! Please child, you clearly helped your friend over there for the better, so why not help me? I can change too! I'll disband the Nyakuza, I'll return the Alpine Skyline to normal, I'll give you your Time Pieces back! A-," Empress' claws scraped against the metal, as she fell a little lower, "Anything! Save me, please..." Empress begged us.

I didn't...I didn't know what to do. Mustache girl was right that she did just try to kill us, and she has done the same in the past. But so did Mustache girl! So did Snatcher! So did the Conductor, and DJ Grooves, and the Walrus Captain. People can change if you give the chance, so it's possible that this could be that chance for her.

Mustache girl saw how sympathetically I was looking at Empress down there, as rain poured down onto my hat, and turned my head towards her.

"She said herself that she's smarter than us. What if this is another trap? Then what do we do? I don't want to risk it Hat Kid." Mustache girl explained to me sincerely.

I looked away from her, down at Empress, as my eyes were full of sorrow and pity. She was just barely hanging onto the building. I'd have to guess that in around a minute or two, she'd be nothing but mush on the road outside if we didn't do something. But, we had to make sure she wasn't just going to double cross us once we helped her up.

I leaned over the edge of the building, as the rain started coming down heavier, and the winds picked up.

"This isn't another trick is it?" I asked her, raising an eyebrow at her, still unsure of what to do.

Empress violently shook her head, and began panting, exhaling and inhaling vigorously as she started to panic. More than likely at the idea of falling down to the floor below, at the bottom of a one thousand floor building she created.

"No tricks! No traps! No catches! I promise, you have my word, I swear, anything! Please j-just,-" she started to fall lower still, clenching her teeth and wincing, as she was unable to hang on for much longer at all, "Please help me children!"

Mustache girl moved me to the side a little, and placed her hands at the sides of her mouth so Empress could clearly hear us over the now roaring winds which threatened to blow my hat off my head.

"Oh yeah? Then why don't you tell us where you're keeping OUR Time Pieces? Then MAYBE we'll consider doing something for you!" Mustache girl shouted to her, seemingly confident she wouldn't let us know where our Time Pieces were kept.

Empress looked up at us both, with more sincerity and distress in her eyes than I'd ever seen her with, as she used her other arm to point upwards towards the room we were in.

"The bottom drawer of my desk! The biggest one! Please, I'll give you them all, just help me! I can't hold on children! I'm sorry about everything, I ju-," Empress' claws finally slid off of the Le Félin logo, and she began to fall backwards.

In a panic, I leaned forward over the edge of the building, and only just managed to get a hold of Empress' wrist, her wet fur making it harder to get a good grasp.

"It's ok, I've got you. Mustache girl! Help me pull her up!" I told my companion.

Mustache girl groaned (and proabbly rolled her eyes) as she started pulling me back further inside the building through the window, as I used my strength to haul Empress up.

She landed back on the floor, with water dripping down her fur, as it ran down my face. I stood up, and saw Mustache girl standing beside me with her arms crossed as she shook her head.

"You just have to save everyone no matter what huh?" Mustache girl sighed, yet with a smile, as she still knew what I did was right.

I nodded in response, taking my hat off and shaking all the water off of it and onto the ground.

"Yeah, it's kinda what I do. Well, the whole point of collecting the Time Pieces has been to stop people from getting hurt, and by just letting someone die after they offered to be better? You know I can't do that, no matter how bad someone's been." I explained, with a slight smile.

Mustache girl smiled too, and placed a hand on my shoulder, making me a little giddy inside. As usual at this point.

"I wish more people were like you Hat Kid." Mustache girl told me, with a larger smile now, as we both looked at each other in the eyes, grateful to be in the presence of the other person.

I heard wet foot steps walk up to the two of us, as we both turned, seeing that the Empress had gotten up onto her feet, and was smiling at the two of us. It looked...well, just...happy. Genuine, joy. The joy of being alive. It wasn't a look I ever thought I'd see on Empress, and yet, here it was.

She rested her hand on my shoulder, and looked down at me with gratitude, and noded slowly.

"The other child is right. I wish more people were like you too. You're confident. You're brave. You're so caring," Empress then beared her teeth into a cunning, menacing grin, "and so unbelievably stupid." 

Before Mustache girl and I had any chance to react, Empress kicked Mustache girl in the chest, causing her to fly into the wall and land face down on her stomach. While she did this, Empress also lifted me off of the ground and slammed me into the wall, as my back felt nothing put excruciating pain as she pinned me to the wall, and stood on Musatche girl with on of her clawed feet.

"Did you really think that I would just have a change of heart so quickly? Really? I thought you would've understood that that's not how this world works by now child. But here's a better life lesson for you. People don't change. People don't 'grow' or develop. All people are, are just simple minded. We don't change. Well, most people. And I'm sure you'll change when you get a face full of this!" Empress cackled and faced the ceiling.

She slid her free hand into her coat pocket, and pulled out her toxic fume shooting gun once again. This time, she had it pointed straight at me, closing the golden gun close to her face, as she shut one eye and made sure she'd get a perfect shot, pressing face right up against the glass container at the top of the weapon, which housed all the toxic fumes she intended to spew out into my face in order to bring me under her control. All the ammunition in her weapon was stored in that glass container...all of it...this gave me an idea.

Despite the fact the Empress had me pinned against the wall, she hadn't restricted the movement of my arms. Instead pressing her hand down into my body and face. I took full advantage of this, and switched from my Kid's Hat, to my Brewing Hat posthaste.

Potion in now in hand, I shook it violently, then mustered up all my strength to throw it straight at the glass containing all the purple flower's gas.

It shattered immediately, as the gas spewed out of the weapon, and into Empress' nose, eyes, ears and mouth, thanks to how close her face was to it. Her face was engulfed in the deep purple fumes, as she pulled her hand away from me, causing me to fall to the floor beside Mustache girl. Meanwhile, Empress started scratching at her own face, and ran backwards into the opposite wall, pressing her back against it as she continued to scratch.

Mustache girl pushed herself up off the ground and stood up, helping me up with her as she laughed a little at Empress' misfortune.

"That's what you get for double crossing us creep! Hahahah, oh boy this is hilarious! And the fact you used her own weapon to hurt her like that? Genius! Hah! Serves her right, let's see how she likes it!" Mustache girl chuckled watching the cat and bearing her own toothy smile this time.

I tried laughing with her, but only mustered up a very weak "heh..." as I looked to the floor, holding my arm and stroking it out of embarrassment.

"Mustache girl...you were right. I shouldn't have helped her. We almost got ourselves killed again because of me. I'm sorry..." I apologised, looking back up at Mustache girl with regret filled eyes.

Mustache girl just kept smiling and placed an arm around me.

"It's not your fault Hat Kid. You were just tricked again. Sure, listening to me WOULD have been the better thing to do," I frowned even more, as Mustache girl's smile disappeared, realising her joke didn't exactly land, "ok look. You're the kindest, sweetest person I've ever met. I know you just want the best for everyone, and I really respect that, you know? But, you should've proabbly noticed there was something up with how different she was acting all of a sudden. But I don't blame you for it, ok?" Mustache girl explained, as I finally grew a smile (and was very flattered by her words), and began to noticbly start feeling better.

"Come on. Let's get those Time Pieces, and go ho-,"

"AAAAHHHHHHRRRGGGGGG!" Mustache girl shouted over by Empress, screaming in the corner of the room as she clawed at her own face, as the purple gas began to disappear into her body.

Mustache girl and I exchanged a look of horror, when I think we both realised that this has wasn't exactly about to take Empress down for us.

Empress leaned against the wall, using her hand to pull herself off the ground as the other finally finished clawing at her own face. Which was now filled with scars and cuts all over, after her sharp claws dug into her face. The original scar across her eye was joined by several more, such as yet another on the same eye, this time going horizontally across it, another going diagonally across the other eye, one going through her nose, a couple on her mouth, some on her ears, among many more.

Her fur stood on end, making her look much bigger than before, as her once yellow and blue eyes had turned and eerie dark purple, as her pupils were no longer visible among her fog like eyeballs, which rapidly darted around the room, while her shoulders, tail and legs were all constantly twitching.

Suddenly, I froze. Remembering what Empress told us that the purple flower's fumes did to cats. How it made them go completely haywire, rather than listen to commands like Empress' other infected minions...in hindsight, it definetly wasn't my best idea to give her a face full of the stuff.

Empress roared at us, crouching down on all fours and pounced like she were some kind of tiger. Mustache girl equipped her sprint hat and ran out of the way, meanwhile I just tried running out the way normally, as the split second decision to equip the sprint hat escaped me. Big mistake. Empress practically threw herself onto where Mustache girl and I were standing, and she only just managed to stand on my cape, preventing me from running away. The normal Empress in this situation would've likely taunted me somehow, or at least made some remark about killing me. But this, infected Empress let out another roar, and dragged me towards her by violently tearing her claws through my cape and lifting me off the ground.

She stood up on two legs now and snarled at me. However, I luckily I had my umbrella! Which I used to hit her in the face now that I was so close! And Empress...didn't even flinch, only continuing to bear her teeth. She brought a clawed paw back behind her head and flung it towards me, as I hopelessly just held my umbrella in front of my chest and praying it wouldn't break through. But, I knew it would. I needed a miracle.

And that miracle came in the from of a girl with a mustache. Mustache girl leaped off of one of the chairs in the room and landed on Empress' back. Mustache girl kicked and punched at the cat, forcing her to let go of me and deal with her.

I landed on the ground and stared up at the two, seeing Mustache girl frantically and violently kicking her heels into the cat's neck and wrapping her arms tightly around the feline's neck. Empress was scratching at her in response, desperately trying to land a hit with her devastatingly sharp knife-like claws.

Empress growled out of frustration, as her arm's uncontrollable twitching prevented her from getting a hit on Mustache girl. She seemed to realise this, so she instead turned her back against the wall and slammed Mustache girl into it. Over. And over. And over. And over. Mustache girl had even let go of Empress at this point from just how much force Empress was releasing onto her, but she still continued slamming her into the wall repeatedly, as she was trapped in between the concrete and a blood thristy cat criminal.

Quite literally thinking fast once again, I equipped my Scooter badge and put on my Sprint Hat. I hopped onto my scooter and jumped in the air, charging right into Empress! I crashed into her, as the moving scooter wheels began getting caught in her fur, causing Empress to roar once again as she was nocked into the air and through the window once again!...With me, as slamming into her didn't make me lose enough momentum to stop the scooter, and I flew out into the stormy night with her.

Glass shards errupted from the side of the sky scraper, as Empress and I crashed through the window, sending us both falling in a panic. Empress tried clawing at me in desperation, while I dug through my pockets in a frenzy, looking for a useful badge, sweat pouring down my face quicker than the rain. I narrowly avoided her attacks mid air, almsot feeling the claws slash against my skin, as they striked the air inches away from my face. Suddenly, my fingers felt a familar, useful badge. I threw it onto my hat, and aimed my umbrella upwards, shooting out a hookshot from it's tip.

The hookshot landed onto the top floor of the building, where Mustache girl and I were fighting Empress. It lodged itself into the buildings floor, stopping my decent. Meanwhile, Empress let out one final roar of terror and fury, as she reached out a clawed hand towards me, but I kicked it away, sending her flying further down towards the ground faster. I didn't really have the stomach to see what became of Empress once she hit the ground, and I don't think I wanted to know either. So, I turned my attention upwards and reeled my Hookshot it, pulling me back up to the top floor.

"Hat Kid! Hat Kid! We did it! We actually did it! We beat her!" Mustache girl exclaimed with a smile as she wrapped her arms around me in a hug.

I had finally reached the top floor after reeling my hookshot all the way in as it pulled me up the sky scraper with it, and I was immediately greeted by Mustache girl throwing herself ontop of me and congratulating me with a hug. Hehe, not that I minded...this was heaven~

I rested my head on her shoulder, which was once again wet from the rain outside. But Mustache girl didn't mind. She was just happy I was ok. And that thought made my face feel a little warmer, knowing someone as amazing as her cared so much about me.

Mustache girl turned to me and placed both her hands on my shoulders with a smile, yet had slight concern in her eyes.

"And please TELL me when you're going to throw yourself out of a window next time ok?" Mustache girl chuckled, removing her slightly serious look.

I laughed too, going in for another hug.

"Of course I will. And let's not celebrate too soon next time either ok?" I told her.

"Fair point." Mustache girl continued to giggle.

After feeling Mustache girl's comforting warmth for a few minutes, we eventually (and unfortunately) let go of each other, and turned to look around the room, finding some slight humour in the fact that the Goats at the back STILL hadn't gotten out of the wall, and had pretty much just given up at this point.

"Hmmm...where did she say those Time Pieces were?...Assuming she was even telling the truth? I doubt it, but she could've been to earn our trust back there." I thought out loud, looking around the room. 

I then remembered she said something about her desk having them, so Mustache girl and I began pulling out every drawer randomly in an attempt to find them. Most of them contained jewlery, one of them had dog food (for some reason? Was that like, a guilty pleasure? Or something? Empress was weirder than I thought), and we eventually tried the large bottom drawer, which contained all of our Time Pieces.

I pulled it out of the wooden desk, and placed into onto the floor, so all the Time Pieces were in full view of us both, their blue light illuminating our faces. I picked up a Time Piece from the vast pile in the absolutely huge drawer, and was about to smash it on the ground, when I saw Mustache girl smiling at me. I stopped, and looked her for a moment, thinking. Then, I held her hand, and placed it onto the Time Piece with mine.

"Let's do this one together." I told her, with a cheery smile of my own.

Mustache girl's only grew, as that red color started showing again on her face.

"I'd like that." She responded, as she only continued to smile.

So, we held the Time Piece high in the air, and once again smashed it onto the ground, together, engulfing the room in a white, blinding light.


	19. Time

The light from the Time Piece faded away almost as instantaneously as when it originally burst from the hourglass, revealing Mustache girl and I (as well as a desk drawer full of Time Pieces) in the centre of our ship. Mustache girl and I stared at each other with smiles on our faces, as we lifted up the drawer, placing our hands either side of it and made our way over to the vault. Well, it felt like I was doing most of the lifting, but that tends to happen when you're...stronger than average, to say the least. Well, even if all that adventuring up in the Nyakzua Skyline was incredibly tiring, I could still lift it. Besides, I could power through that exhaustion for now...and hopefully the aching of my body from smashing through a window.

Mustache girl lowered her side of the drawer as she turned around and opened the vault door after we made our way up to it. With a couple turns of the handle, we were greeted with our mountain of Time Pieces. Their glow brightening up the ship immensely as their light poured out into the rest of the room. Mustache girl and I walked up to the vault, and carefully placed the drawer down onto the pile. Being very careful we wouldn't shatter any Time Pieces it was on top of. But, after being very careful with it, we had managed to set it down safely.

Mustache girl and I both brushed off our hands as I turned back to the vault to shut the door, throwing the door back into place as it locked.

"Well Hat Kid, is that...all of them? Did we do it? Did we get all the Time Pieces back?" Mustache girl asked, with clear anticipation in her voice as she turned to me.

I froze for just a second, before I shook my head quite quickly and turned to the monitor at the side of the vault, tapping my fingers on it in order to bring up the total Time Pieces currently in the ship.

"Nah, no way right? There's a lot of Time Pieces that are supposed to be in here, there's no WAY we've found them all. That would be...crazy...right?" I spoke, becoming less confident in my statement as the sentence continued.

I finally brought up the menu which displayed how many Time Pieces were currently in the ship, as I was sliently praying in my head that we hadn't found them all. I mean, there was no way right? How could we have possibly tracked down that many Time Pieces in such a short space of time? There had to be more! A lot more! We were only scraping the surfa-

"One thousand out of one thousand Time Pieces on board," the statistic on my ship's monitor read.

I froze, almost beginning to shake a little as I gulped. I turned to Mustache girl, who shared my look of surprise, yet didn't seem to share my utter disbelief.

"Woah...we did it! Hat Kid, we really did it! Woohoo!" Mustache girl fist bumped the air, before going in for another hug.

Her warm embrace made my heart beat a little faster, and I began to relax in her arms, wrapping mine around her once again.

"Yeah...we did...WE did. I couldn't have done it without you Mustache girl. And there's no one I'd rather have done it with either." I congratulated her, nuzzling my head into her hair a little as it rested on her shoulder.

Mustache girl squeezed me tighter, as her face beamed with absolute triumph and accomplishment. This...was it. The adventure was...was...over...

I felt tears begin forming in my eyes as I realised what that meant, but quickly shook it off. I didn't want to cry. Not in front of Mustache girl, at least. I could hold it in for the rest of the day...I hoped.

Mustache girl and I eventually took our arms away from each other, and she took one look at my face and her eyes immediately widened, as her grin faded.

"Hat Kid, what's wrong? We did it, didn't we? We...we saved the planet! Right?" Mustache girl inquired, as she had very likely noticed my quivering lip.

I looked away from her for a moment, and took a deep breath as I stared off at planet earth. There it was. There was Mafia Town. No more factories or smoke were in the air. There was Dead Bird Studio. The Nyakuza's influence there being compeltely absent. There was Subcon Forest, where Snatcher proabbly was right now. But, not the Snatcher I used to know. This was a Snatcher I'm actually proud to call my BFF. And I know he feels the same way. Although I couldn't see the underground Nyakuza Metro from here, I knew that any trace of the Badge Seller was long gone down there. The arctic had no battle ship sailing through it. And finally, Alpine Skyline had returned back to having it's colorful flags stretching across it's mountains, and all of it's trademark landmarks were back in their places.

"Yeah, yeah we saved the planet Mustache girl," I placed an arm around her, and turned the girl towards the window, "you're a hero to everyone down there, you know? We both saved them all. We did it. That place...it...feels like home." I sighed longingly at the planet, smiling at it, with a sense of bitter sweetness in my stomach.

Mustache girl wrapped her arm around me too in that moment, bringing me closer to her as I tried my best to ignore me going completely red in the face.

"You know...if it feels like home...you could always stay? I know you have to go home and everything don't get me wrong, but...you seem so happy here. And you haven't really been too panicked about not seeing your planet for like, how long have you been stuck here? Five? Six months?" Mustache girl turned her eyes away from me for a moment, looking to the right of the room, "And there's...something I've been meaning to tell you. Um, it would only really...m-make sense to talk about if you were staying..." Mustache girl mumbled that last part.

My heart. My heart wanted to tell her so badly in that moment. Why I'd love to stay. Why I'd love to stay...w-with her...and...just...enjoy life down there...I desperately just wanted to get rid of all this weight on my shoulders and do that...But I knew, I was stuck with it. For my whole life...

Before I could continue these soul crushing thoughts any further, a metallic clang was sounded from the kitchen. As something hit the kitchen floor, and quiet curses were heard from the room. Mustache girl and I shared a glance, then got up to investigate. Meanwhile, I was slightly relieved that I wouldn't have to talk about all that, at least not now. Although, I was now wondering who could possibly be in the kitchen? Was it Snatcher? I doubted it, but it was possible.

Mustache girl went in at the same time, as we slowly pushed both double doors open as we peered into the room, and turned both of your heads to the right.

Cooking Cat was stood at the kitchen sink, washing a frying pan. She turned around to us both and greeted us with a smile and a wave, yet still kept one hand on the pan, scrubbing it.

"Oh why hi there! Sorry for all the racket, but when I appeared in this room again, I wasn't lookin' where I was goin' really, and accidentally nocked over this here frying pan onto the floor!" Cooking Cat explained as she smiled at us both still.

I smiled back at her in response, as did Mustache girl. We just teleported her back here and sort of...forgot, I guess. There's a lot of stuff to keep track of when changing somewhere as big as the Alpine Skyline back to normal, so that's proabbly just natural.

"So what have you both been up to? Why, you look like you've worked up quite a sweat! The two you have faces redder than my tomatoes. Perhaps I could you both up somethin' to eat to help you both relax a little?" Cooking Cat offered us both.

Mustache girl exchanged a quick nervous glance, as I saw my reflection in the nearby microwave. I was still as pink as I proabbly was before, from being so close to Mustache girl. Great. And now Cooking Cat had pointed that out, and I just felt a feeling of slight uneasiness as Mustache gi-...w-wrapped her hand around mine?

I looked at her crimson face, which now sported her usual toothy grin, seemingly uncaring for the fact that red was the one and only color displayed on her face. I-, I had no idea why she decided to hold my hand in that moment, but the fact she did made my heart beat a hundred times faster, as a smile began creeping up my face too.

...And I completely forgot Cooking Cat was still in the room.

"Aw, well ain't that just delightful! I knew you two had made up, but see y'all making each other all happy like, why it's making me happy too! Although, I hate to interrupt, but I think I left a cook book in your room kid. Say, Mustache girl? Could you go fetch it for me? I'm sure I left it near her closet, can you go get it so I can talk to Hat Kid here for a minute? It'll only be a second I promise." Cooking Cat asked Mustache girl.

Despite me turning my head to Cooking Cat, I noticed Mustache girl hadn't, instead still looking at me with lowered eyebrows, only making me go pinker in the cheeks as I stared staring at her completely. However, Mustache girl had heard Cooking Cat, and slowly nodded her head in response. She gave me a cheery goodbye before skipping off to my room, humming as she did so. It was a bit more girly than she usually acted, which was a little strange, but cute none the less...who am I kidding, everything she did was pretty cute~

My train of thought was interrupted when I saw ginger paw waving in front of my face, bringing me back to reality.

"Hello? Kid? You in there?" Cooking Cat joked with a smirk.

I rolled my eyes, yet with a smirk of my own.

"I think so! Hehehe...so uh, what is it you wanted me to talk about?" I asked the feline curiously.

Cooking Cat placed a paw over her mouth, and stood on the edges of her toes in order to reach my ear, as she leaned over to me, with her soft fur brushing against the side of my face as her hand neared closer to it.

"So how come you never told me that you like this girl so much? She seems very fond of you! If you uh, get what I mean." Cooking Cat not so implicitly whispered.

I knew immediately what she was referring to, as my heart stopped for a moment and my face was practically glowing at that point.

"I uh, h-ha-have no idea what you're talking about...Heheh...heh...," I paused for a moment, as I saw Cooking Cat looking at me with a smirk still and a raised eyebrow, "Ok fine is it THAT obvious?!" I sighed in slight frustration, and pouted.

Cooking Cat rolled her eyes this time, and gave me a pat on the back with her paw.

"You really gotta get better at hidin' it if that's what you're tryin' to do you know?" Cooking Cat told me, with a motivational look.

I sighed once again and nodded my head in agreement.

"So is this what you wanted to talk about?" I questioned her, still quite obviously embarrassed and looking the other way.

Cooking Cat scratched the back of her neck and left out a bit of a chuckle.

"Well, forgive me for bein' a curious cat, but it is. So...did you always feel like this about her?" Cooking Cat continued to question me.

I shook my head, going a little red from embarrassment that it was so easy to tell how I felt about Mustache girl. As I was PRAYING that Mustache girl was not nearly as perceptive as Cooking Cat and Snatcher were.

Speaking of which, Mustache girl pushed open the kitchen doors and immediately met my side as she grabbed my hand. This...really didn't help how bright my face was turning, but there was absolutely no way I'd ever STOP Mustache girl from doing this. So I welcomed it with open arms, er, hand.

"So, I couldn't actually find your book. And I kiiiiind of want to talk with Hat Kid now? So can we look for it together?" Mustache girl asked the cat, with a giddy smile on her face.

Cooking Cat grew a look of surprise before walking over to the near by shelf and picking a up a large brown book with her face on it, and laughed.

"Oh sorry dear! Turns out I didn't misplace it after all! Well, you two run along now. And come back here if you need something cooking for you!" She playfully bid us goodbye as we began walking out the door.

Meanwhile, I turned my head around briefly to stick my tounge out at her, making her giggle a little before getting back to cooking. She knew she hadn't misplaced that book, I was sure of it...still, I somewhat respected her cleverness.

Mustache girl and I left the room, walking out back into the main room of my ship, hearing the familar sound of Rumbi hitting against the wall, which got a giggle out of us both. Although upon closer inspection, I noticed Rumbi hadn't ran into a wall, and was instead spinning inbetween the slide and the door to the basement.

I walked down there, still clutching Mustache girl's hand as my heart hadn't stopped fluttering, and I noticed a letter sat in front of my slide, which had fallen out of the mail room.

I bent down at picked it up rather quickly. I was going to simply return it to the mail room, however I then noticed who sent the letter as Mustache girl and I both grew rather curious at it's contents.

The letter was addressed from "The Captain" and had multiple seal faces on it drawn in crayons of varying colors, all smiling. I turned to Mustache girl, as I held the letter in my left hand.

"Well, aren't you going to open it?" Mustache girl inquired with a slight shrug.

I looked away for a moment, as my smile grew a little uncontrollably.

"I mean, I would but um...," I clutched her hand a little a tighter in that moment, "I um, don't want to let go of you." I admitted, as I turned my gaze back to her.

Mustache girl went a little more red in that moment, yet made no attempt in hiding it this time...weird. Instead, she grabbed the letter from my hand with her free one, and brought it up to her mouth. She bit into the paper and tore the top of it off, spitting part of the envelope onto the floor as she took out the letter from inside before giving me another smile.

"Who says we have to stop holding hands to read a letter?" Mustache girl smugly spoke, twirling the message around in her fingers.

...The fact she acknowledged that this is what we were doing made my heart's pace only continue to accelerate.

Mustache girl handed me back the letter, which I took and began to examine. The letter was a mix of very formal hand writing, as well as lots of graffiti drawn all over it in crayon. Most of it consisted of seals, the Walrus Captain, various ships and boats, fish, my main hat, a couple Mafia goons, as well as a couple miscellaneous drawings or doodles that seemed moreso seemed to resemble scribbles than actual objects or creatures. There were also large, bold, multicolored letters spelling out, "Tanks foor the halp mwiss!," (more accurately mispelling) at the top of the letter.

Mustache girl pointed at one drawing in the bottom left corner that I hadn't previously noticed, which showed a poorly drawn Mustache girl smiling next to me, as Snatcher lay beside us with a frown, colored in blue crayon.

"Heh, there's us! I'd imagine those Seals would get pretty annoying to talk to after a while, but these drawing are too cute. We should hang this in the gallery! Heheh." Mustache girl suggested, seemingly flattered that one of them had decided to draw her.

I let out a slight "aww" and giggled at quite a few of the doodles decorating the paper. Still, this was a letter first and foremost, and the cursive hand writing in black definetly did not look like it was written by the seals, that's for sure. And so, I began to read.

"Dear kids and the ghost, I felt like writing to you pup to let you know how things have been going down in Mafia Town for all of us. Good news is, we got ourselves jobs running most of the fishing boats around the place. Those Mafia guys figured it was good having some new faces move into town especially since they're going to picking a new leader soon-," Before I could continue, it seemed a voice had overheard me reading, and cut me off pretty abruptly.

"THEY WHAT?! THOSE TRAITOROUS FIENDS DARE REPLACE ME?! AFTER ALL I'VE DONE FOR THEM! THEY WERE LIKE MY FAMILY! OH THE HUMANITY! HOW COULD THEY!? WHY, I CAN'T WAIT TO GET DOWN THERE AND GIVE THEM A PIECE OF MY MI-," The voice echoed from the Machine room.

Mustache girl turned her head to face the door, grimacing at the sound of the shouting.

"Oh SHUT IT! You replaced them all before! Honestly, I'd say it's only fair. Maybe this next boss won't smell as bad as you doooooo!," Mustache girl leaned closer to me and placed a hand over her face after she was done teasing,  
"I doubt it really. They all smell just as bad as each other."

"WHAT?! I DON'T SMELL AT ALL! Such an ignorant little child! I'll have you know when I was alive, I practically ATE my fish scented deodorant! Uuuggghhh...why must I be cursed to be this puny, pathetic jar..." The Mafia Boss complained.

The (soon to be former) Mafia Boss only continued to grumble, yet seemed to gradually stop addressing us and just began talking to himself (since I'm pretty sure he likes the sound of his own voice too much, and he might be going a bit crazy staying in that room all day).

I looked at Mustache girl as we shared a laugh at the jar's anger, and how he couldn't do anything about his predicament, before I began to read yet again.

"Those Mafia guys also gave us some uniforms, even if most most of 'em are too big for the Seals. But, I think mine looks pretty good. Although I don't quite get the mandatory aprons. Whatever, we've found ourselves new places to live, and we're happy here. Even if it is a little warmer than we're used to, and I do have to protect a couple of the Seals from getting punched every now and then, it's certainly better than the position we were all in after my ship sank. So, thank you pup. You helped us all out of a pretty bad rut back there. You ever need some fish, or a favour yourself, you can count on us. Oh, and there's a picture of the crew on the back of this piece of paper they all wanted to take. I hope I see you around pup." I read aloud, attempting to do my best impression of his voice, despite the fact mine was certainly a lot higher and couldn't match the general gruffness, but I tried.

Curious, I turned the letter around, revealing a photo of the Walrus Captain and the Seals standing in front of the S.S None of your buisness at the dock. They were dressed in blue suits, even sporting the Mafia of cooks aprons, except the word "Mafia" on them was crossed out, replaced with words such as "Sailor." A couple Mafia goons were seen in the background with a couple Seals (with 90% of their bodies being covered by the uniform, with only their heads sticking out) helping load cargo on board the ship. I squinted a little at the picture, and noticed that the goofy Mafia was staring up at the sky with binoculars, as if searching for something. Heh, I had a bit of hunch as to what, causing me to chuckle a little.

Mustache girl stared at the picture too, and was a little less proud of them than I was. She pouted, and rolled her eyes again. Yet this time it was out of distaste more than anything. It wasn't very hard to tell.

"Ugh, I'm still not a fan of the idea that you got these guys jobs in Mafia Town of all places. Seriously? That's the last place I'd want to live." Mustache girl expressed her slight disappointment in this fact, as she began looking away, seemingly bored of staring at the picture.

I sighed and placed the picture in my pocket, and proceeding to scratch my chin in slight confusion at her statement.

"But...you do live there?" I inquired, raising an eyebrow.

Mustache girl groaned and let go of my hand (which kinda hurt a little, even if there wasn't any ill intent behind it), then walked over to the window. She rested her elbows near the ship's controls, and placed on hand on her face, which pushed her cheek up a little as she stared at the planet. As she let out and sigh of dissapointment. Took note that her gaze was fixated on Mafia Town.

I jogged up to her, kneeling down next to Mustache girl and getting a little close to her in an attempt to comfort my companion. Mustache girl's smile returned a little, but it appeared to be very weak judging from her clearly saddened, reflective eyes.

"Well, if you don't like Mafia Town, why not just leave? I'm sure I could get one of my friends to give you a place to stay somewhere else! Like, maybe Alpine? It's pretty! Or maybe the Conductor and DJ Grooves could give you somewhere to stay in Dead Bird Studio, or the Moon in Grooves' case. I'm sure both would be pretty noisy, but they're definetly exciting. Oh! And I'm positive Snatcher would let you stay in Subcon Forest if you wanted to! He likes you!" I explained to her, day dreaming of potential places Mustache girl could stay.

Mustache girl smiled more at the posibilites, gazing at the locations as I listed them off, however, she shook her head after I finished.

"I'd love to just leave all these stupid Mafia behind, Hat Kid. But, that's not who I am. There's...a reason I didn't jump at the chance to just leave the place now you let me on the ship, which would let me get off the island." Mustache girl informed me, as her smile began to fade.

I stood up and looked at her, only more confused.

"Well, what is it? Why don't you want to leave Mafia Town, even if you hate it?" I questioned her, seemingly left with more questions than answers.

Mustache girl paused for a moment, silently wincing as she looked to kitchen, and we both heard Cooking Cat humming quietly as the sound of dishes splashing around in the kitchen sink could be heard from the main hall.

"Could we er, go somewhere a little more...pr-private? Like your room? It's a bit...personal. And you're the only one I really trust knowing it." Mustache girl asked me, with some slight anxiousness in her tone.

I put on a straight face a noded. If this was something Mustache girl wanted to keep mostly private, I was going to respect that.

We walked through the door to which lead to my room, with strangely enough some...tension, in the air. That's the only way I could really describe it. I felt ever so slightly uneasy, but I wasn't too sure why.

Mustache girl and I walked into my room, and she decided to sit above the pillow fort to gaze out of the window into space while we talked, our hands propping us both up as we looked out towards the cosmos.

Despite coming in here for a conversation, the was a long pause before either of us spoke. I looked to my right at Mustache girl, thinking of just how deeply I cared for and about her. Meanwhile, Mustache girl continued staring off into space. Whether she had her eyes lost in the stars, or her own mind, was a myserty to me. Until after a long inhale, she finally broke the scilence.

"...So...this is...weird, to talk about. I've never actually, done it before with anyone. I've just kind of...lived with this, I guess. Not that I ever thought anyone would care anyway...do...you care?" Mustache girl asked me, as she stared at me with a wide, curious gaze.

I nodded my head the second she finished speaking, and I placed my hand down ontop of her's in an attempt to comfort her. As I lightly caressed her surprisingly soft hand with my finger tips.

"Of course I do Mustache girl! We're a team! You and me! Why wouldn't I care? I care about you so, so much. You can tell me anything. I promise." I reassured her, which earned yet another (unhidden) pair of red cheeks, and the return of her beautiful little smile.

Mustache girl nodded too, proceeding to turn to me.

"Thank you Hat Kid. I...I don't know what I'd do without you at this point.," Mustache girl closed her eyes and took in another breath, "The reason why I don't want to leave Mafia Town is...a long...story. Basically, one day I'm just playing in the streets, when some Mafia goons come off a boat and start talking to some of the islanders...well, now it's mostly, former islanders. Anyway, I try to go over to them to say hi, and they start just, attacking. Everyone. They started vandalizing and destroying the whole island! It was terrible Hat Kid! These brutes just started beating me up for no reason! They fought everyone! After a couple hours of the island being invaded by more and more Mafia goons, people knew they couldn't fight back. So they started evacuating. Almost every civilian on that island began running to life boats and sailing to...anywhere, really. Anywhere, besides what was becoming Mafia Town. When I saw people doing that, I-, I couldn't believe it Hat Kid. It was like, the end of my whole world. I'd never left this island...and I wasn't about to let some mean old bullies push me around either! So, I didn't go to the life boats. Instead, I wanted to fight off the Mafia! I'd be the one to take them down! All on my own!...But...I didn't know how to fight. I was like, what, seven? Eight? I didn't know what I was getting myself into Hat Kid...the Mafia won every fight I got myself into. And I went home that day with bruises, cuts, a couple black eyes and every bit of my body aching." Mustache girl explained, then she stopped for a large breath and paused. 

I placed a hand on her shoulder, and shook my head sympathetically. She just needed to take her time. This must have been torture to relive again, and the pit in my stomach made me believe that it was partially my fault she felt this way, scince I decided to ask about it. Yet, likely with a heavy heart and definetly water filled eyes, she continued.

"When I finally made it back to my house that night. After doing all that fighting, I opened the door...," Mustache girl turned from the window to look at me, as tears began streaming down her face, "It was destroyed, Hat Kid. Everything. Furnite w-was, stolen and broken. Pictures of me were smashed on the floor. Pictures of...p-p-p-parents...they were...they were torn up and thrown all over the floor. The Mafia didn't take anything or break stuff because they NEEDED to or to even because they wanted to sell it at that black market...they did it...out of spite. For the one person rebelling against them that day. They must have found out where I lived somehow and completely wrecked the place! And before I had the chance to try and salvage any memory of my old home, I heard a couple Mafia goons coming towards my house...I don't think I would've been able to take another punch Hat Kid...I'd felt so many that day, and my body felt like collapsing every second I spent standing up. So I ran. Ran far to the edge of the island, where I found a small cave, and decided that it would be the safest place to sleep for the night, out of the rain..." Mustache girl was barely able to get most of this out through her tears anymore.

She threw herself ontop of me and buried her face in my shoulder as she desperately wrapped her arms around my body, squeezing me tighter than she'd ever squeezed me before.

"A-and you know wh-what the w-worst p-part of it is Ha-Hat Kid? I didn't see m-my parents on th-those life b-boats...a-and, I kn-know now that they w-would never l-leave without me...do you think th-that...that the Mafia...k-...ki-..." Mustache girl couldn't bring herself to say it, and exploaded into tears.

It was my turn to hold her tight then. I was her shoulder to cry on. I had to stay strong. For her...even if the events she described were starting to make me hate the Mafia as much as she did, if her assumptions were correct. I knew that the Mafia had taken over her island by force, and through unfortunately beating up Mustache girl in the process. But...I never stopped to think of what became of her parents. How, awful that must have been for her...the pit in my stomach felt like a black hole, forcefully and quickly sucking and stealing away every last shred of positivity I'd ever felt. But, I had to stay strong. For Mustache girl.

I lifted her off my shoulder, and stared at the other girl, deeply gazing into her eyes. She was still crying. Tears errupted from Mustache girl's eyes in a state I'd never seen her in before. The top of her mustache was dripping wet, as her lip kept quivering as he attempted to form some kind of sentence, or even a word, yet couldn't get out a sound even resembling one. It was only tears. Pure, devastated tears as the events of that night kept playing in her head over, and over, and over, and over, and over...

"Mustache girl. Listen. I'm sure your parents aren't dead. They were proabbly just some of the first to evacuate, and you didn't see them leave. Since you weren't with them, they probably just thought you left too. And, I'm not sure where they are now. They're proabbly in some island in the middle of the ocean or something. But I promise you, you will find them, or they'll find you. You're tough Mustache girl, you really are. I'm sure you'll be able to find them eventually, right?" I told her, in an attempt to calm her down.

Mustache girl's sniffling had mostly ceased during the time I had spent talking, and her lip was no longer trembling as much. But, the tears weren't stopping, despite the fact she now...had a smile on her face.

"Thank you Hat Kid. For being here for me. You're...amazing...Anyway, I guess you're proabbly still wondering why I haven't left Mafia Town yet, huh? Well, you know me. I'm not the type of person to go down without a fight. So, what I want to do, and what I've always wanted to do really, is show this stupid Mafia who's boss! And take them down! Because they aren't messing with me and getting away with it! Then, hopefully all the people that used to live on the island will come back once the Mafia leave and I turn every last one of them into mush!," Mustache girl seemed to be speaking somewhat triumphantly now, however, that seemed to fade as quickly as it appeared, "...Who am I kidding? Everything I've ever done has never made a dent in the Mafia's numbers or even made them consider leaving. It's...it's hopeless..." Mustache girl sighed once again, looking to the floor and quite clearly disappointed in herself.

I was about to speak up and try and tell her something to motivate her, when Mustache girl continued again, seemingly reflecting on every corner of her life before the Mafia in her mind. Or at least, the ones she could remember.

"...Why do I even want most of those jerks back anyway? Sure they're better than the Mafia, but the kids before the Mafia showed up were all so nasty...you know something funny Hat Kid? I've never told you my name. You know why? Because...well...I forgot it. All the other stupid kids on the island always made fun of me for having a mustache. No matter how much I tried to shave, it just came back bushier and bigger than before. And all the other kids would just call me "the girl with the mustache" or "the kid with the mustache" or some would just call me a tiny man, to make fun of me, and that's all I'd be known as. No matter what I did, I couldn't get rid of those jerks...so I just accepted it. My old name, whatever it was, didn't matter. I'm Mustache girl. That's...the name society gave me. I guess. I mean, it's stuck alright. It didn't matter how many I beat up to get them to stop, there would always be more...kinda reminds me of the Mafia in a way...ugh. I guess it's not as bad anymore though. I mean, if anyone starts saying bad things about my glorious facial hair, they'll have to answer to us! Right Hat Kid?" Mustache girl asked me, getting a little more positive about herself as she twirled her mustache between her finger.

I stood up on my knees, to give the air a fist bump in approval.

"Yeah! Your mustache is awsome Mustache girl! It's super cool! And cute and-...um...d-did I say cute? I meant, cool. A-again." I gulped, laughing nervously.

Mustache girl rolled her eyes and gave me a smirk.

"Suuuuuurrrreeeeeee. Well, for what it's worth, I think you're cute Hat Kid. I'm not gonna deny it to you. You're the most adorable person I've ever seen. Oh, and you're super tough, and smart, and funny and kinda strange too but eh, it's the good kind of strange. It's adorable seeing you act confused about earth-y things you don't know much about. Heh." Mustache girl told me honestly, as her face started burning with that red color once again.

My heart began beating at a vigorous pace. As my chest pounded, and my own face was noticbly turning a bright pink in the window's reflection, as I rubbed the back of my neck in slight embarrassment.

"Th-thanks, Mu-mustache g-girl...yeah, you're um...I f-find you cute too...and funny. Oh, and you're crazy strong! Hehe, and it's always pretty funny seeing you so weirded out by "alien stuff" I do. Heheh..." I giggled, with a noticeably shaky tone.

There was a long pause after that. I don't think either of us really knew what to say after Mustache girl told me about all that. But I think she knew that I was here for her. And that's proabbly what made her feel better...and that made it so much harder to talk about one of the things I'd inevitably have to discuss with her...but, I figured at continue to make her feel a little better, for just a bit longer.

"Do you wanna hear a secret?" I asked her, a little shyly as I stared out into space.

Mustache girl wiped her eye one final time. Getting rid of the last tear she still had in there from her earlier reflection on her past, as she replaced it with a slight, small smile.

"Of course I do!" Mustache girl answered with great encouragement in her tone of voice, and just, seemingly cherishing the fact she was talking to me.

I took off my hat, and began playing with it in my hands, spinning it around like a toy as I looked over at Mustache girl.

"I don't know my name either." I admitted, remaining bubbly and nonchalant in my tone.

Mustache girl's eyes expanded in surprise. But, she then placed her hand on her chin, and looked at my hat and I, as she thought about it.

"Huh...I never thought I'd meet someone else like that. I mean, most people tend to remember their name. And don't just let it fade into the background like I did. How come you don't remember yours?" Mustache girl wondered, as her interest was seemingly peaked.

All I really gave her visually was a shrug in response.

"I just never knew it to begin with. Well, I proabbly did. But, most of the earliest memories I've got are of me in this spaceship. There's only a tiny bit about my home planet...and it's not good. Whenever I go to a planet, the people on it always just call me Hat Kid anyway. Or, "The kid with the hat" or something along those lines. But eh, it doesn't really bother me. It's got a nice ring to it. So does Mustache girl actually. Whenever I have to sign something, I just write Hat Kid in my native language. Or, anything I feel like really. The person reading it won't be able to tell what it says anyway! Hehe, so that's funny." I explained to Mustache girl, as she listened intently to every word.

Mustache girl chuckled a little too, yet appeared to still be curious about me.

"So, wait. How is that even possible? Only rembering your life up here I mean. You can't just have been BORN in the ship! Right? What about your parents?" Mustache girl inquired further.

I clenched my teeth and inhaled as I gave her a look of confusion.

"I-...I don't know anything about my parents. Heck, I don't even know if I HAVE parents! Like, what if that's another weird alien thing I have? Somehow? I'm not sure...For as long as I can remember, it's all just been me up here, travelling through space. Always keeping an eye on the," I clenched my teeth and my fist for the next two words, "Time Pieces. But, why? Why do I of all people own them? Why do I have to protect them? How did I end up in this spaceship? Do I even HAVE parents?...I don't know. It's all just, super weird and messy. I can't make sense of it." I admitted, as I placed my head in my hands, as my chin rested on their palms, while I continued staring out into space.

Mustache girl moved over to me on her knees, and rested a hand on my shoulder, which never failed to cause my heart to flutter.

"I'm sure you do Hat Kid. Everyone has parents! Well, I think they do? I'm...not actually too sure about how that works for you. Huh. Weird. Anyway, it'll be ok Hat Kid. All this stuff is super complicated for kids like us. But, I'm sure we'll figure it out eventually. We'll help each other! Together! I'm gonna have your back for a long time Hat Kid. You can count on that. Well, every time you visit, I guess. Oh yeah um...when are you leaving, by the way? I know you're not from here, even if we all wish you were. So, when are you going back to your home planet? And...wait, why are you going back there if you know nothing about it? Oh and, please visit Earth. I don't...I don't know what I'd do if I never saw you again..." Mustache girl explained, as she quite noticeably feared losing me more than anything.

I didn't want to say this. I hated the fact I was about to. I hated myself for it. I really did. I pained me to no end every single time I was forced to think about this. But now actually saying it to her face...I knew this would be rough. Incredibly, rough.

"Mustache girl...I'm...I'm so sorry...b-but I-...I-...I c-can't visit. I wish I could I really, REALLY do...but...I c-can't..." I admitted, as I bit my lip to cease it's inevitable trembling.

Mustache girl's face fell to the floor. Her pupils shrank slightly, her expression turned to one of pure confusion, horror and disbelief. All of a sudden, she looked on the verge of tears again. And so was I. But that didn't matter. Her heart looked like it just shattered, right then and there. As she sat there motionless for around a minute, as a noise occasionally spouted from her throat. Until, she finally managed to form some coherent words. Using presumably every ounce of strength she had that wasn't already sucked out of her from my own soul destroying sentence.

"...Wh-...w-...wh-...I-...you-...vi-...wh-...why c-can't you v-v-visit? I-...I thought y-you loved it here? I th-thought...I thought...you l-loved..." Mustache girl looked away from me, in pure hesitation to her saying her next word, instead beginning to cry as she buried her face in her hands.

I stopped. My heart. My brain. My body. All of it. It just sat completely...stationary. Frozen. I was clueless on what to do. I had not only desimated my own heart, but pulverized the person's heart who I cared the most about in this world. No. I could travel the whole universe, and I still wouldn't find someone more special to me than Mustache girl. I knew it, in what ever fragments were left of my sick and twisted, foul black heart. I didn't deserve to be speaking to someone like Mustache girl. She had actually redeemed herself from all she had done in the past, and THEN some. Meanwhile, I had just done the exact opposite. I made myself sick.

"It's not because I don't want to stay here Mustache girl. I do love it here. I-...if I could, I would spend the rest of my life down there with you. I'd grow up there. I'd a job there. I'd see you and Snatcher every single day. Heck, I'd even get married there! I'd...do other things adults would do when I grow up there! I'd do everything and more down there if I could Mustache girl. And we'd do it together! I promise! But...I can't...," I took a deep breath, as every bit of resentment and distaste I could ever have was put into these next few words, "Because of the Time Pieces."

Mustache girl raised an eyebrow, unable to grasp why I had to leave because of them. I sighed, and pressed my discusting face into my putrid hands. Because I felt like scum. What I was doing to Mustache girl, this person I'd become so close to during my time here...felt absolutely evil.

"I hate these Time Pieces. I really, really do. They have so much power, and all people use them for is for their own gain. It makes me sick how, how, how they just corrupt people! Do you remember how the whole planet turned on me in a second, after you explained their power to everyone? I don't blame you for that. I blame the universe for even allowing these things to exist in the first place! They're so...so dangerous...they're evil. I hate them all, so much. Sure, they're shiny and pretty and whatever. But they're just...too powerful. I want to break them all. I've been tempted to, so many times. Even before I came to this planet, I've come across others I really liked and felt like just grabbing a baseball bat and jumping into that vault of Time Pieces and start swinging. But, I can't do that. It's too risky. They give people way too much power and...I have to protect them. Keep them away from people. And before I pretty much crash landed on this planet for the first time, I had an idea. I would go back to my home planet and bury them. Bury them deep, deep underground. So no one would ever find them again! Then, I guess I'd just...live on my planet for the rest of my life. Since, my ship uses Time Pieces as fuel, and it's built in a way so nothing can really replace them. Trust me, I've tried. I've tried, so hard. But it doesn't work. So, I won't be able to come back here once I've buried the Time Pieces...ever...and I don't want to risk taking you to my planet because, I don't even know what it's like! I don't want it to be super dangerous and have you die because of me! I'm so, so sorry Mustache girl. I have to leave to protect them...I just...I just wish there was some other way to get rid of them. For good. Since, burying them is my best idea, but even then they aren't gone forever. I just...I hate how powerful these things are. It's like a curse. You could do so much good with them, but not only is doing anything at all with them that affects the past super dangerous, people never use them for good either...I hate them. So, so much..." I explained to her, sparing no detail before finally beginning to sob into my hands, as tears dripped through my finger tips.

"...I...I hate them too, Hat Kid..." Mustache girl admitted with a sigh.

However, through my tear filled eyes and fingers, I realised something...Mustache girl wasn't crying. She still looked devestated sure, but she had a look in her eye as she stared at me that showed nothing, but the fact she appeared to be deep in thought. As if, desperately searching her mind for...something, with that determined stare. Yet also one, of agreement. Understanding. She knew exactly what I was talking about. She didn't like it, but she certainly understood. Suddenly, a wide smile errupted across Mustache girl's face in excitement, as she snapped her fingers in realisation.

"Oh! Wait a minute! Why don't you bury the Time Pieces on Earth? Then, they can be gone AND you can stay! It's a win win!" Mustache girl suggested the idea to me hopefully.

...But I slowly, and regretfully shook my head at the idea, as tears began falling down my face quicker than before, as I started sniffling.

"That won't work...what if someone finds them? Since, I already know that a LOT of people would proabbly want their hands on them. At least on my planet, I'd be an outsider...I think? I doubt they'd really remember some random kid from space who just happens to be from there, so I doubt they'd try abusing the power of the Time Pieces. I don't know. I just know it's proabbly safer doing it there, where know one knows me and there's a very small chance they don't know the power of the Time Pieces...verses, a planet full of people who've had their hands all over the Time Pieces. I love all you people from Earth, I really do!...But you're all too familar with the Time Pieces for that to be safe. If someone happens to find them, even randomly. Then they're going to know exactly what to do with them, and how to use them..." I informed her, wiping my eyes of my tears, as they began to get replaced with new ones near instantly.

Mustache girl wasn't done with her ideas though, she was determined to keep me here, and even though I knew her efforts would likely prove fruitless...I was praying that she would come up with something I hadn't thought of.

"Hmmm...w-well, what if we um...threw them all out into space!" Mustache girl suggested, already sounding like she was low on ideas.

I shook my head rather quickly at that thought.

"N-no, that w-wouldn't work either. If they get in someone else's hands and I have no idea where they are, basically, someone else can use their power and I have NO WAY of finding and stopping them. And if they hit a STAR?! Yeeaaahhh that much energy is going to cause a supernova...I've looked into this a lot. I've tried thinking of so many ideas Mustache girl, but, all of them just lead to a huge mess. You can't just throw them away. I'm stuck with these things. Forever. And when I-," I stopped to gulp, as a shiver ran down my body, "When I d-die...I don't know what's going to happen to them. But it's not going to be good..."

Mustache girl grimaced at the thought, as if it made her sick to her very core. However, she shook her head, and snapped herself out of that negative mindset, instead focusing on what was at hand. When she suddenly, got another idea.

"Why don't we just break them all? I mean, we won't do anything to try and corrupt time or destroy it or whatever! We can get rid of them that way!...Right?" Mustache girl was practically pleading for a positive response here, as I could tell she was definetly starved for ideas on what to do.

However, I shook my head once again that night.

"No, we can't do that either. Whenever someone throws down a Time Piece, they can create something, travel through time, make time reverse, make it go faster or slower, or...anything really. It doesn't even matter if we intend to do nothing with them either. Because when someone breaks a Time Piece, it's going to give them whatever they want. The only way to really destroy all the Time Pieces, would be if there was a way to destroy them all without someone being directly involved in throwing, or smashing them or something...But I have no idea how that would work...I don't think...anything is going to work..." I explained to her, with my eyes filling up with tears once again, if they weren't full already.

Mustache girl gave me a look like she had another idea, right after I finished saying that. As if those words had sparked a fire in her, allowing her to think of the perfect solution to our situation!...But, that look faded. Immediately. As guilt washed over her, while she desperately attempted to form some kind of other plan in the back of her head, but it looked like it would never come.

"I-...I don't know what to do...Hat Kid...I'm so sorry. There's got to be some way we can get rid of these stupid Time Pieces. They've caused so much pain, for so many people. And I hate it. I hate that you hate it! I just...I don't know...maybe we should try getting some sleep. And...work this out in the morning? There's got to be a way to fix this...and we did just get back from the Nyakuza Skyline after all, and...a lot happened there, you know?" Mustache girl stretched her back then and rubbed her shoulder, spots Empress had likely done some damage to after she slammed Mustache girl against the wall.

I nodded in agreement, as sleep did seem like a comforting thought right about now. Just, a way to take away from all this stress we were both currently under, and relax. Even for a moment. Even if tomorrow would almost certainly be...the l-last day I'd ever spend on this planet...

Mustache girl and I hopped into the pillow fort, lying on top of it as we always did. And getting close to each other...and holding each other's hand...yet, I couldn't quite enjoy this feeling in my heart now. It was tinted with a ray of sadness. Dispair, and that strange uneasiness from earlier. As we were both faced with a puzzle that seemed impossible to solve. However, as I began to drift off, as my eyes fluttered more and more as they grew heavier and heavier, all that stress melted away into unconsciousness...

. . .

A crashing sound from somewhere in my spaceship jolted me awake. My eyes shot open, as I sat up in the pillows, breathing quickly in and out. In and out. In and out. But, it was ok. It was ok. It was ok. I simply figured that the noise was proabbly just something in a dream that caused me to wake up. But just to be sure, I turned to my right, to ask Mustache girl.

"Heeyyyy...did you hear tha-,"

I froze and cut myself off mid sentence with a gasp. Air seemed to enter my lungs faster than light itself in that moment. That second. That immediate realisation that something was very, very wrong. As my eyes hadn't expanded to three times their size due to seeing something horrific. What caused that, what made my blood run cold...was what they didn't see.

Mustache girl...was gone.


	20. The Finale

The empty space beside me where Mustache girl should have been felt like a gaping void in my ship. She was always here next to me (and I liked that more than she knew) or at the very least, here in my room. And what was that crashing sound? Could it have been-...no, no way...right?

Suddenly, the lights in my room all turned off, and after a few seconds, they came back on again. The lights were flickering on and off relatively slowly. However, the light bulbs soon began to grow dimmer and dimmer, as the faint light they emitted continued to become progressively weaker.

I realised quickly what this meant, as my beliefs were only confirmed when I saw the lights on my door starting to lose their color. The ship was powering down, and soon I would be trapped in my room with no escape that didn't involve smashing a window and more than likely floating away into space.

Posthaste, I dug my arm into my pillow fort and made sure to grab my umbrella I left down there. I felt the hard wooden handle beneath the light, soft cushions almost immediately. After yanking it out and causing a few pillows to fly into the air, I put on my sprint hat and made a mad dash for the door, praying I'd get there in time for it to still be able to open.

As neared closer to the door, I skidded to a halt in front of it, as I saw the doors were indeed opening...just, extraordinarily slowly, as the absence of light in the ship only grew while the doors barely created a wide enough gap for me to slide through. Still, it looked like it was just barely wide enough. So to avoid being trapped in here, I moved in between the doors as my body scrapped against them, due to little space they had created. I thought that I might end up getting stuck in that space from how tight of a squeeze it was. But, after a lot of wriggling, I managed to get out of my room and into the hallway, as my body stopped tensing up and relaxed a little. I began breathing quickly, somewhat exhausted from the struggle to make it through the door.

I felt my head for my hat, just in case it had slipped off back into the other side of the door during my squeeze through it. But, my trusty top hat was firmly planted on my head where it belonged.

The increasing darkness in the hallway as these lights too began shutting off reminded me that I still wasn't in the clear, and needed to make it through the other door before it lost all functions that allowed it open, as the ship appeared to be losing power every second, and time was of the essence. Well, as always.

I wasted no time re-equipping my Sprint Hat and running down the hall, as I noticed the door in front of me with it's once shining neon lights had all become exstremely faint and faded. As I ran closer and closer to it, expecting it to open at least slightly...it didn't, and skidded to a halt in front of it in a panic.

My heart was beating rapidly as I moved closer to the door. It still wasn't opening, even when I was close enough to where I could press my whole body against it, there was nothing. No movement, no noise, no indication that the door was supposed to even do anything. It just...sat there.

Sweat poured down my face more than before, as it dripped against my skin while my eyes darted around the door, scanning it for some other way I could make it move. I grinded my teeth together and inhaled, as I genuinely couldn't find an answer to get me out of this hallway, as all the lights in it had basically turned off completely at this point, and showed no signs of turning back on. 

I clenched my fist in frustration, as I let my anger out by slaming my right foot into the ground, putting all my force into that stomp.

Suddenly, I heard a brief mechanical buzz coming from the door. I turned my attention to it, and noticed that it had opened ever so slightly. My eyes widened as I remembered that these doors were meant to be activated when there's a certain amount of force near them. Usually, it's just something very light, like me walking near them. But it seemed like the stomp right next to it, even with the clear lack of power in the ship, was enough to get it to open just enough for a hand to fit through.

That's when an idea hit me. I placed my two hands in the gap created in the centre of the door, and used all the strength in my body to push them to the sides. To hopefully create a space large enough for me to squeeze through once again.

As I began pushing, how strong and heavy to move this door hit me immediately. Sweat was dripping down my whole body at this point, as my fingers began to hurt from being pressed so hard against the steep metal surface of the door.

I summoned every ounce of strength I could in that moment, I needed to create a gap in the door big enough to fit through, and after enough strain on my body (mostly my hands and arms) I opened by eyes on my tightened face, revealing that after all that pushing I had finally managed to create a gap that just might be big enough to fit through.

It took some more squeezing and pulling myself by placing my hands on the doors and shoving forward, but I was eventually able to make it through the final door leading to the main hall of my ship, despite being exhausted from the struggle to make it there already.

The ship was once again shrowded in darkness, as none of the flashing buttons or gadgets that were placed around the room sat lifeless, as they seemed to no longer be powered. I shiver ran through my very being, as my worst fears seemed to come to fruition once again. But, I had to make sure.

All it took was one look in the vault's direction to freeze me to the floor. It was wide open, with the door leaning against the left wall, as the shine produced by the Time Pieces was no where to be found. I found the strength to jump up to the vault to get a better look inside, and what I saw made my already quivering body begin to shake even further. The vault was once again...empty. The barren metal innards of the structure seemed so strange to look at after all this time of it becoming so full once again, yet, here it was. With all the Time Pieces once occuping the space entirely gone. And with no sounds in ship once again, it seemed like I was compeltely alone...

...That is, until a faint mechanical beep echoed from the other end of the main hall. It's sound stopped me from just breaking down into tears once again at my situation, as the familiarity and friendliness of the noise urged me to keep going. I turned my head towards the right, away from the empty, barren vault.

What greeted me, was my little robotic companion, Rumbi. Who was hopping in place and flipping next to the glass door in my ship's window, as if to get my attention somehow.

Before I knew it I was already diving down towards the tiny machine, before kneeling down to get somewhat closer to eye level with it. Rumbi had a concerned, distressed expression in it's eyes, as it beeped quickly while looking up at me, as if trying to tell me what happened.

Rumbi moved on the ground in the direction of the vault, transforming it's eyes into the shape of...eyebrows? No...no that was...a mustache. My heart felt like it had been torn as if it were just paper in that moment. Not compeltely ripped in half, but torn none the less. Rumbi then moved it's mustache eyes closer together and transformed them again, becoming the shape of an hourglass. Finally, Rumbi's pink, neon eyes became their normal oval shapes as it looked towards the planet, jumping up and down. As if trying to signal to me that I should look too.

Standing up straight, I stared at the planet. That beautiful place where I'd been on so many adventures these past few months. If...if only I could stay longer than that...way, way longer...

Still, that wasn't important right now, what was important was finding out where my Time Pieces were, and getting them back before they caused anymore harm than they already had. I leaned closer to the window, pressing my face a few inches away from the glass as I looked for any minute differences in the planet's landscape to see where the Time Pieces could possibly be, or for any white lights coming from the planet.

However, I found the difference in the planet almost immediately. In Mafia Town, the HQ was usually visible from space, however the island that usually housed the HQ was just replaced with a large grey building, as the material it was made of was indiscernible from space and I couldn't make out any other details from the building's exterior. It seemed like the creator of it certainly wasn't going for looks. 

I took note of this detail as I turned back to Rumbi, and reached into my pocket for the Hover badge, and placed it onto my hat. I bent down to the electronic creature, patting it on the head for telling me where to go, and what it saw.

"Thanks Rumbi. I'll get the Time Pieces back from," I stopped for a moment to fight back tears, "M-mustache g-girl, before you know it. Th-then we're...we're...going home...um, bye bye Rumbi." I told the android vacum cleaner, despite the fact it kept getting harder and harder to finish my sentences, hardly believing them.

I grabbed ahold of the door on the window's handle, and took one final breath of the ship's air. Giving myself a clear view of my doubt filled expression in the ship's reflection, as my eyes echoed the translucent shadow's complete despair. Still, I let the air fill my lungs before I flung open the door, shut it behind me almost instanteously...and jumped down to the planet, one final time.

As fell through the planet's atmosphere, so many thoughts were flying through my brain, each one of them causing my heart to ache in frustration and confusion. Where did everyone on my ship go? Where did all the Time Pieces go? This building seemed like it would be my best bet at finding them, but had I wrongly presumed it to be the one that housed the Time Pieces, just because it wasn't here before?

And most importantly of all...why had Mustache girl taken my Time Pieces? There was no way she had been planning to betray me this whole time, that seemed compeletly impossible to me. I'd gotten to know her so well over the course of this adventure, there was no way she would just stab me in the back like that! Then, what could she have been doing? Was she trying to help me get rid of the Time Pieces in order to help me stay on earth? What was she going to do? I was hoping so badly she wasn't just going to throw all the Time Pieces off of the top of that building and think it was that simple. The only way you would reasonably be able to destroy a Time Piece without any changes to time or space, would be if she had no involvement in breaking it herself. But, how would she even go about doing that? Was this even what she was planning to do? Maybe the Mafia caught her and took the Time Pieces from her, and this building was their doing? 

So many thoughts, ideas and theories all clouded my brain as they just grew louder and louder, shouting over each other and creating a chaotic mess of emotions in both my head, and my heart. Well, at least they would all be answered soon enough, as began falling through clouds and the orange sky around me, as sun rise seemed to be approaching the land. I noticed that the platform surrounding what was usually the Mafia HQ, and was now this grey concrete building, was filled with...people?

Before I could ask what the peck they were all doing, thanks to the badge on my hat, I knew the exact time to open my umbrella and did just that, saving myself at the last second from falling (despite having some inital trouble of wondering where to land amongst the crowd) I landed on the end of the platform, behind a couple Mafia goons shouting at the building.

"Let Mafia in! Mafia must make evil mustached girl get lost once and for all! Mafia knew not to trust child, she never change! Let us all in coward!" One particularly furious goon roared as he shook his fist in the air.

The Mafia goons all appeared to shouting things of a similar nature at it, only further adding fuel to the fire that was my very conflicted emotions. I looked around at just how many people were here, as the platform seemed to be completely full on all sides from just the sheer quantity of occupants it had. It didn't appear to be everyone on the planet, as most people here were Mafia goons, but there were a few faces that stood out. Well, and voices.

"LASS! LET US IN! WHAT THE PECK ARE YA' DOIN' IN 'ERE?! HELLO?! Ugh, 'ow did she get in this place at all? THERE'S NO DOOR!" The Conductor complained from the front of the crowd, turning towards the Mafia looking for answers (it seems like when there's a horde of people shouting, the Conductor is always one of the loudest and most distinct voices there, that's for sure).

After scanning the area a little more and standing on my toes in an attempt to see over the Mafia, I noticed that a couple Express Owls, Moon Penguins and Crows were here. As well as Conductor (who I couldn't see but certainly heard) and DJ Grooves as his afro stuck out from all the blue suits. There were a few Goats stood towards the front of the crowd, with a couple Nomads on top of each one so they didn't get trampled. The Goats were all punching at the building, swinging with immense amount of force. Yet despite their exstreme strength, their punches and charges into it didn't leave a single mark on the place. The final distinct characters hanging around the building I was able to see were are ten to fifteen...Nyakuza cats?! But, why? I beat Empress, right? What reason did they have to be here? They weren't even normal cats either! As they all wore the ionic mask of the gang...it was certainly strange, that's for sure.

I decided to get some answers on what exactly was going on here, and tapped one of the Mafia on the shoulder in a hope to get his attention.

He turned around, with joy immediately radiating from his face once he saw me.

"Child! It is you! Mafia is relieved! Mafia thought there was emergency. But, you likely told mustached girl to come here, right? Please, get her to leave from here! Mafia was busy figuring out who should be new leader, when child threatens us with Time Piece and tells us to leave! Then, she create building that make strange noises! Tell her to take strange noise building somewhere else. And bring back HQ!" The Mafia recounted the events of what happened as he gave me his order.

I nodded in response, and continued my questioning of him after looking around some more at all the people here.

"Huh...but what are all these people doing here that aren't Mafia?" I asked him curiously.

The Mafia goon simply shrugged.

"Mafia tell other Mafia about this, they tell friends. Some friends in other parts of world. Word spread fast. Especially with Time Pieces involved, Mafia would have thought you show up sooner." The Mafia member explained casually, as the crowd behind him continued to shout and try breaking into the building, to no avail.

The building itself lacked in any type of detail, being a completely grey cube that stood twice the height of the Mafia HQ that stood there before it. Every so often, through all the shouting, I heard something which sounded like the smashing of glass coming from the inside. However, I couldn't quite tell if the smashing was infrequent, or was just being drowned out by all the people outside roaring at the building and telling Mustache girl to let them in.

While I was studying the shape from the back of the crowd, in an attempt to find some kind of entrance or weak spot in it that people had yet to notice, I spotted a dark figure float up from behind the structure. One I recognised immediately. Without wasting anytime, I climbed on top of the Mafia goon's back, and placed my hands at either side of my mouth to get his attention.

"Snatcher! Over here!" I shouted over everyone in the crowd in an attempt to get him to notice me.

Snatcher quickly turned his attention from the building, to the voice calling him over, as his face lit up (well it was already bright, but metaphorically I mean) upon noticing who the voice belonged to. And in the space of a second, he teleported himself to my side, leaning down to me as he was still in his larger form.

"Hey there kiddo, what's all the buzz about? I heard something about Mustache girl and the Time Pieces or something? Fill me in here, I just got back from trying to track down a cat who escaped from my forest. Ugh, I knew I should've taken their soul back on the ship..." Snatcher complained, likely making a mental note to do it later.

I pointed at the building and scratched at my head under my hat, as I still wasn't entirely sure myself.

"So, Mustache girl is in there and she's doing...something with the Time Pieces? I'm not sure what, but I think she's proabbly trying to get rid of them? Listen, we've got to get in there Snatcher. I don't know what she's doing but I don't want time to get messed up because of it. That's what's important. I just have to get her to stop doing what she's doing and then I-...I can...," I took in a breath through my nose and let out a sigh, "go...back to m-my home planet..." I explained to my companion with less energy than before at the mention of leaving.

Snatcher nodded, seemingly understanding the situation as he lifted me onto his shoulder while the spectre floated upwards to get a better look at the building. I clung onto his shoulder, which lacked it's usual complete icy feeling that felt painful to touch. It was still chilly, but it had defiently gotten warmer than it was at the start of this adventure, so it didn't bother me much anymore as we gazed at the structure in an attempt to think of a way in.

"I understand kiddo. We'll get your Time Pieces. Don't worry." Snatcher reassured me.

Snatcher and I stared at the building some more, and all the people around it desperately trying to get in, still trying to figure out how we'd get inside, when Snatcher appeared to have an idea.

He flew closer to the building, with me clutching onto his shoulder as he stayed above the crowd. Snatcher raised his left arm into the air and half of a pink circle appeared at the side of the building's wall.

"ALRIGHT I'M ONLY GONNA SAY THIS ONCE! EVERYBODY MOVE! NOW!" Snatcher shouted above the noise of the people, as he noticed a few people were stood in the circle.

The Mafia goons in there all scrambled in fear to get out the way, pushing past each other, as they had likely seen what happened last time Snatcher came to Mafia Town. As they were only just able to make it out of the way before Snatcher fired the laser, revealing the other half of the circle on the other side as a chunk of the wall was completely obliterated.

Without wasting anytime, I hoped off of Snatcher's back and ran inside. He followed me, and behind him was the crowd of people from outside, who were trying to keep their distance from Snatcher after seeing him blow up a part of the building so effortlessly, despite the fact all their chipping away at it had done nothing.

Inside the building was pretty well lit for there being no windows, as a large chandelier hung from the ceiling. Everything else in the structure lacked much decoration, if any. The walls were just as grey on the inside as they were on the outside, and the floor consisted of nothing but hard and sturdy concrete, as well as stone. The place appeared to be almost entirely barren, besides a few key details. 

For one, at the opposite end of the building stood a large glass box-like room and inside it sat what appeared to be...controls? Like, levers and buttons? What was Mustache girl doing in here? Speaking of which, she sat behind the glass, staring forward in shock with wide eyes at just how many people were now gathered in the building, despite Snatcher's presence and size keeping them at bay.

The other detail in the place was that there appeared to be a large conveyer belt stretching from the glass room, across around half the length of the room, with no protection surrounding it. They conveyer belt's purpose was immediately displayed when I noticed all the glass shards on it. However, they weren't there for long. As almost as quickly as I noticed them, a metallic pillar (not to dissimilar in shape to the ones I'd jumped across in Mustache girl's castle the first time she took the Time Pieces) was lowered hurriedly from the top of the ceiling, attached to it with metal bars, as it crashed down onto the shards, causing them to break and become even smaller as the broke apart. However, the pillar didn't stop slamming down onto them. And I didn't stop it. I-...I was speechless. And soon enough, the shards were nothing but dust which blew away in the draft created by the newly opened hole in the wall.

After the machine had finished it's task, a door that I couldn't previously see on the glass box opened, as Mustache girl stepped out of it, while she held a large brown bag, which I could tell was mostly empty, save for just a few objects pushing outwards inside the bag ever so slightly. 

We stared at each other for solid minute, neither of us really sure what to do or say, while murmurings from the crowd started echoing throughout the area.

"Mustache girl...was that...a Time Piece?" I asked her, still unsure of what to make of the situation, yet, I started to feel...happier, at the likely possibility.

Mustache girl smiled ever so slightly then, looking a little proud of herself.

"Yeah...it was-," Mustache girl was about to continue, however the crowd's murmurings became confused and frustrated, stopping her.

"OH I SEE! SO WHEN *I* DESTORY ONE OF THOSE HOURGLASSES TO GET A NEW BODY, IT'S A BAD THING! BUT WHEN *SHE* DOES IT, IT'S OK!? THIS GIRL IS BIASED! BAH!" The Mafia Boss (how did he get down here?) complained from the crowd, who were advncaing towards us.

I turned around to face them all, as they all appeared more than a little agitated that I wasn't stopping her immediately, like I had tried to do with everyone else. Mustache girl and I shared a look of concern, as we realised that none of them had the context to understand why this situation was different.

"Pup, you said breakin' these things was a bad idea! Why the heck aren't you stoppin' her from doin' it?! She's not even usin' 'em for anything! All I wanted was to spend one day, just ONE with my dear old mentor and friend. And you won't let me have any, when she's destroyed who knows how many!? How's that fair?" The Walrus Captain argued, as I noticed he accompanied the Mafia goons who he now shared a uniform with.

I looked up at Snatcher for some guidance, but even he was starting to look slightly agitated and confused as he turned to me, no longer sporting his trademark smile.

"Kid, all I wanted was to get the life that was taken from me. With just ONE of these things! Who knows how many she's broken! Don't just stand there, kill her already! I don't care HOW you feel about her, give her what she deserves! Or I, WILL!" Snatcher threatened me, as he pointed at Mustache girl with a clawed finger.

I backed up towards the conveyer belt, as sweat started dripping down my face once again. But this time, out of fear. It was almost sickening how a couple words had managed to turn so many people on us both so quickly, after all we'd done for them. I guess in the moment, they all only saw how it affected themselves, rather than the bigger picture. 

Mustache girl however, shook of the intimidation that came with the mob of people advancing towards us, and took a step towards them, holding the bag up in the air.

"I'M NOT DOING THIS FOR ME YOU IDIOTS! I'm destroying these Time Pieces so that no one can use them ever again! Do you even understand how much harm they've caused? How much harm YOU have proabbly caused with them!? I'm getting rid of them for good, so no one can use their powers and potentially screw up all of time somehow! And guess what? These Time Pieces are the only thing preventing Hat Kid over here, from staying here! You know, the one you're threatening, who's supposed to be your FRIEND?! Honestly, I wouldn't blame her if she didn't want to stay anymore, now you've just shown yourselves to be selfish jerks WHO ONLY CARE ABOUT THEMSELVES!" Mustache girl shouted, defending her actions.

The crowd all stopped then, as they likely thought about what Mustache girl had just said. A sense of relief washed over me that Mustache girl was indeed doing this for the good of everyone. For...my sake. It was so nice of her to do that for me and I-...I couldn't believe she'd found a way to get rid of them for good. I mean, I did tell her that the Time Pieces only affected time when someone actively smashed them. I'd never really considered the possibility of creating a machine to do it. I mean, I guess most machines (excluding ones like Rumbi) can't think for themselves, if one's purpose was to destroy the Time Pieces without affecting time in any way...then it...could work?

As all of this ran throughout my head, I saw the crowd's faces all turned from one of an angry mob, to complete regret and distaste for what they said.

Snatcher placed one if his claws on my shoulder, with complete resentment for his previous words showing on his face as he looked down at me.

"I'm...so sorry about that kiddo. Big misunderstanding. That makes sense. Mustache girl? Keep destroying these things. They won't be missed, that's for sure. And kid? It's going to be fun knowing that you're sticking around." Snatcher told us, making the two of us smile in response.

But, not everyone was happy with this answer.

"SHE WANTS TO *STAY*!? ARE WE JUST GOING TO LET THIS LET THIS LITTLE ALIEN CHILD STAY ON *OUR* PLANET?! I DON'T THINK SO! SHE TURNED ME INTO THIS JAR, AND I HAD TO RIDE ON TOP OF HER VACCUM CLEANER THING TO GET OUT OF THE *PRISON ROOM* SHE TRAPPED ME IN! I SAY WE KICK HER OFF THE PLANET! WHO'S WITH ME?!" The Mafia Boss barked from the front of the group.

...No one replied to him, as he desperately looked around for someone else who wanted me gone.

"What if Mafia like alien child?" The Mafia with the goofy glasses spoke up in a cheery tone.

"WELL er, NO ONE LIKES YOU ANYWAY! Fellow Mafia, I am so sorry I replaced you all with robots that one time. But eh, water under the bridge! Right men? Now come on! Let's kick her off the planet!" The Mafia Boss attempted to persuade the goons.

They all exchanged glances with each other, as if sliently deciding what to do amongst themselves, before a Seal in an incredibly oversized blue suit crawled out from the crowd and lay beside their captain.

"I thwink this jar of ice cweam is vewy mean." The Seal said shyly, breaking the scilence.

The Mafia goons all nodded as one stepped forward, and picked up the Mafia Boss, holding him in front of his face.

"WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS?! UNHAND ME YOU DIRTY APE! BAH!" The Mafia Boss scoffed, feeling absolutely ballistic at this point.

The Mafia goon clutching him then nodded as well.

"Mafia agrees with Seal." He spoke in a monotone voice.

The Mafia then let go of this former boss, and kicked him across the room, as he landed behind the conveyer belt. As his groaning was drowned out by the cheers of the Mafia, as another in the crowd turned to me.

"Hat child! Destroy Time Pieces! Mafia says they should get lost! Not evi-, er, unruly Mustache girl!" The Mafia goon shouted in encouragement.

"Darling I absolutely agree! Let's get rid of these Time Pieces before they cause anymore trouble once and for all! These Time Pieces should get, lost!" DJ Grooves shouted from the middle of the pack.

"Those time things destroyed our precious home! We agree kid, they need to get lost!" A Nomad sitting atop one of the Goats chanted.

"You know what to do kids! These Time Pieces have to GET, LOST!" Snatcher cheered.

Soon enough, the whole crowd was shouting he phrase, as my chest began to feel lighter from all the happiness and sheer joy inside me. I looked to my left at Mustache girl, who had nervous eyes from the mention of the phrase again, but smiling this time because of it, rather it being used against her, Mustache girl was being supported by the phrase. And I'm not sure if I would know how to react if I was in her position. 

She turned to me, absolutely beaming (while still having an ever so slightly anxious look in her eyes) as she grasped my hand with her right, and held the bag in the other.

"You ready Hat Kid?" Mustache girl asked me with a somewhat anxious tone, yet, excitement began to over power it.

I nodded immediately, as I could barely contain my smile, with my heart beating faster that it ever had in my whole life.

"Of course I am Mustache girl. Thank you, by the way. I was ready to just give up on thinking of ways to get rid of these things and leave this place behind. But, thanks to you, I can stay. Thank you, so, so much. Now, how many are left that we have to destroy?" I told her, as I began literally jumping up and down of the spot from sheer excitement.

Mustache girl gave a shake of the bag, closing her eyes and smiling at me as she was noticbly pleased with her work. And for good reason!

"Just six left now! Oooohhhh I can't wait to get rid of these things once and for all! Let's do this!" Mustache girl proclaimed with pure glee.

My heart skipped a couple beats at the fact that Mustache girl had managed to take the total down from one thousand, to just six. It was...so surreal to me. That my biggest problems in the universe, were all about to be gone so quickly. And I couldn't be happier.

Without wasting another second, she pulled me by the arm and towards the glass room she controlled the machine with...until we both tripped on something.

We fell flat on our faces, landing hard on the stone floor as the bag flew out of Mustache girl's hand and through the air. The crowd behind us gasped, their chanting ceasing immediately as they were all frozen in shock and fear.

But I'd been through too much to let tripping on something be the end of this adventure. So I immediately got back on my feet, already running forwards as I switched to my sprint hat-...to find the bag...floating in mid air?

"Wha-, what?" I muttered with a raised eyebrow.

Suddenly, I felt a force from behind me shove me onto the floor once again, landing on my stomach this time.

I was met with cackling, from voices I couldn't quite pin point the identity of.

I turned around and stood up with Mustache girl, as we looked at the floating bag. As did the crowd, with clear visible confusion.

Suddenly, colors began forming around the bag. Mainly orange hands that clutched it, as...a Lazy Paw gang member revealed themselves. I'd never really knew learned the group's name before, that is until Empress referred to them as such back in the Skyline. Instantly after they did, what must have been twenty all revealed themselves from their invisible states, grinning with pure malicious intent. 

"HEY! Didn't you hear me?! Give those back and quit being selfish! Don't you want the best for this planet you morons?!" Mustache girl ordered them, yet a couple more invisible members of the gang shoved her to the ground once again, only further infuriating her as she growled.

I got out my umbrella to attack, when I felt something crash down on top of me. Something...hairy. My eyes darted up to whatever had just landed on my body and pushed me down to the concrete for a third time. This however, wasn't a member of the Lazy Paw gang. But, a Naykzua cat.

"Don't worry kiddo, we'll destroy the Time Pieces for ya," more began falling from the ceiling, as I noticed they were coming from the chandelier above us, "just as soon as we bring back the boss! Then, we'll be BILLIONAIRES! That's gotta be worth bringing someone back to life! Hehe, but first!" 

A Nyakuza cat landed on top of Mustache girl, pinning her to the ground too, as one of the other Nyakuza walked in front of the Lazy Paw gang members, pulling out one of the six remaining Time Pieces in the world from the bag and clutching it in their paw. Without even a moment of hesistantion, they threw it to the floor as I was forced to watch in horror as a white light engulfed the whole room. What could they possibly be doing with that? Where could they be taking us? Or were they just going to dumb Mustache girl and I into a pit of lava, where they'd bring back Empress and potentially cause a rift in space and time? As the light faded, that question was quickly answered.

However I did not feel the burning heat of a volcano in that moment, or anything of a similar calbibur really. Instead, I felt...wood. And, exstreme cold. Well, not icy cold or anything of that nature. But almost as if it were the absence of a real source of heat as a whole. Or even just temperature in general! That's when I noticed the black sky around me, and...stars?

"Look familar kid? The top of this spaceship is where you threw off my best friend out into space! And his whole squad!" The cat explained bitterly.

"And captured me to give to that ghost! I had to clean a whole well the size of like, ten houses! A haunted well! You know, WITH MORE REAL GHOSTS IN IT!" The cat holding Mustache girl to the ground chimed in, which I now recognised as the cat we had held so easily before.

"My partner in cat crime was just doing their job, and you threw them out into space! Well, now, we're gonna do the same to you and your partner!" The cat continued to explain, as I could tell in their voice they were clearly enjoying this.

I attempted to struggle out of their grip, but their claws began digging into my arms, causing me to tense up with pain as I was held against my ship's ceiling.

The cat leaned down to me, their whiskers brushing against my face as their face came into full view, glaring at me.

"Are you ready to die, kid?" The cat rhetorically asked me, with a snicker.

However, in an instant that expression became one of complete fear, as they were immediately pulled off of me, while their usually large pupils became tiny, while their heart stopped as a black claw lifted them into the sky.

I turned around on my back, to find that these cats had accidentally teleported everyone in that room atop my ship. Including, Snatcher.

It turns out he had also pulled the cat holding Mustache girl off of her too, and looking at the two quivering cats in the air with a devilish grin.

"You should really start asking yourself that, you know. Oh well, not like you'll get the chance to answer anyway, IN SPACE!" Snatcher let out one of his signature cackles, completely drowning out the scaredy cats begging and pleading him not to do what they proabbly thought he would do.

And, if they were thinking what I was thinking, he did. Snatcher held both of his arms back behind his head and aimed for this solar system's sun, and throwing them with all his might as they were cast away into the stars.

Mustache girl and I exchanged a hopeful glance, we could beat these guys, we both mentally agreed. And without a word between us, we sprang to our feet and ran towards the cats standing in front of us, clutching the bag of Time Pieces. 

In a panic, one of the cats snatched the bag and threw down a Time Piece, teleporting away from Mustache girl's incoming fist, as the cat the previously held the bag exploaded into pons upon making contact with Mustache girl's knuckles. In a rage, two of the cats slashed towards her at once, but using the Time Stop Hat, Mustache girl side stepped the attack and jumped in the air. She grabbed their heads and rammed them into each other, causing the two cats to fall to the floor unconcious once time returned to normal.

Meanwhile, I was trying to keep track of the cat with the bag, who was constantly disappearing and reappearing around the ship. I placed my Brewing Hat on and began shaking a potion, in an attempt to take aim. But I'm pretty sure they were moving the too fast for even THEMSELF to keep up, as they were teleporting non-stop! Then, Snatcher leaned down to me and whispered in my ear.

"Watch this kiddo." Snatcher told me, keeping up his grin.

A large pink circle appeared in the centre of the ship, as Snatcher squinted his eyes, trying to keep track of the cat. I thought for a moment, then, equipped my Time Stop Hat to try and slow the cat down, so it would be easier to track. Unfortunately, this also happened to slow down Snatcher too.

The cat finally appeared in the centre of the circle, so in order to get Snatche to react in time, I used my faster movement to shake him, and shouted,

"Fire!" While grabbing onto his arm tightly.

I had no idea if that would actually work at increasing his reaction time during Time Stop, or if the sudden jolt of being grabbed by me was enough to get him to shoot the laser beam. However, once I saw the ground below the cat errupt into color that shot up into the starry sky, I knew it was enough.

The cat was utterly obliterated by the attack, as the bag flew into the air vertically, just barely missing being destroyed by the laser too. However, the bag was flung up so high that it actually started floating away from the ship, as gravity decided to move it elsewhere.

In a panic, I attempted to jump, and even double jump up there, reaching for the sack which held the precious relics by outsretching my arm as far as it could go...But it was no use. As the Time Pieces were just the tiniest but too high for me to grasp.

...However, when I expected to fall back to my spaceship in defeat, I instead landed on something a lot sooner than I thought I would. It felt, soft. And kinda squishy beneath my feet? I looked down, and saw that around eight Moon Penguins had stacked themselves on top of each other like a ladder (giving me some slight deja vu), and were acting as a platform for me to stand on, with DJ Grooves beside them as he looked up at me.

"Alright darlings let's give her a BOOST! Better be ready now guys and gals, JUMP!" DJ Grooves told them all, as he extended a flipper up to the bag.

The bottom bird must've used all the strength in their body to leap into the air, pushing us all up higher than before! I used this as an opportunity to jump off of the one that grabbed me, and extended my arm out to reach the bag, gripping the fabric for dear life.

So I didn't float off into the dark abyss of space myself, I reached a hand into my pocket and pulled put my hookshot badge and placed it on my hat. I then used the hookshot to attach onto my ship, and pull me back.

Upon landing, I gave Grooves a thumbs up for the help, holding the bag full of Time Pieces under my other arm tightly. At least these cats weren't nearly as smart as their boss and didn't have the foresight or knowledge of the Time Pieces to bring just Mustache girl and I ontop of my ship, and not all my friends too.

Mustache girl ran up to me, and I waved at her cheerily, as I saw she had dealt with all the cats while I was reclaiming the Time Pieces...although the concern on her face as she ran towards me and pointed at me was troubling.

"HAT KID! BEHIND YOU!" Mustache girl warned me from afar.

My heart stopped as I realised what she meant, especially when the bag fell so much lighter all of a sudden. I held the bag up to my face, as it dropped upon noticing that there was a large gaping hole in the now empty sack.

I turned to face a Lazy Paw gang member, splitting the four remaining Time Pieces amongst a couple other members of their gang, and a few Nyakuza cats. 

One of the taller Nyakuza cats who hadn't received a Time Piece charged at me with their baseball bat, swinging it as if they were about to make a home run using my head. However, still holding my umbrella, I dropped the empty bag and gripped it with both hands now, holding it above my head and blocking their attack. I took advantage of our current stalemate to kick the cat in their left leg, causing them to drop their guard and allowing me to spin around and smack them in their side with my baseball bat, sending them flying off into space from the sheer force of the swing.

I turned my attention back to the other cats, as I noticed while most of them had disappeared, one of them was in the corner of the spaceship, currently fighting off five Mafia goons who had made their way past me and towards the cats with the Time Pieces. I saw them swing their baseball bat towards one of the goons, yet the punched in the air at the same place they swung, causing their weapon to snap in half on the Mafia's fist.

A look of horror befell the feline, causing it to throw down the Time Piece to the floor and teleport away. Immediately, I turned to face the rest of the ship, spying multiple cats fighting all my friends from all over the world. In hindsight, maybe visiting the metro in the first pkace wasn't the best idea...Even if I had no choice in the matter, what with the Time Pieces being involved.

I decided to run over to the closest cat, who was yet another Nyakuza goon. This one happened to fighting the Conductor, while a bunch of Express Owls were panicking behind him, having absolutely no idea what was going on.

Despite um, you know, (being kinda old) Conductor was still a good fighter, and managed to dodge out of the way of the cat's claws, while swinging his knife around, making the cat move closer and closer to the edge of the ship, as they held their Time Piece firmly.

"Oh come on, yer trouble makin' hair ball spittin' crook! Give me that Time Piece, or I'll have to give you a taste of me blade! EHEHEHEHEHEH!" The Conductor taunted them, while I sensed some fear in the cat's eyes as they stared at the knife and could no longer control their breathing, as their mask starting moving inwards and outwards on their face.

However, after a couple more dodges the cat was actually hit with the knife!...Yet it didn't do...anything?

"Wait. Is this thing rubber?!" The cat exclaimed in surprise and frustration.

Conductor took the knife away from them and inspected it for a moment, as he realised he must have picked up a movie prop instead of the real deal when heading over to Mafia Town.

"Oooohhh er, it u-u-u-um...TIME TO GO OWLS!" He shouted to the group behind him, quickly joining them in their panic as the tables had turned.

The black cat began chasing them to the other side of the ship, swinging their baseball bat with a confidence that they'd now easily won the battle, and appeared to have let their guard down a little.

I decided that now was my chance to strike, as I aimed my umbrella at them and fired my hookshot using my, still equipped, badge. The claw latched onto the cat's furry tail, as they let out a yelp of pain from the force of the grip. I yanked my arm that clutched the umbrella backwards over my head, as the cat flew up into space. Then I released the hookshot, and watched the cat fly further out of view as they floated uncontrabbly away from the ship, and earth. However, that wasn't what I needed to do. I fired the hookshot again, and this time aimed for the Time Piece they still clutched tightly in their paw, which I managed to grab, and pull back towards me.

I jumped up in the air and held the Time Piece in the air in triumph, when I member of the Lazy Paw gang jumped in front of my and scratched me in the face, as pain surged through it, making me let go of the Time Piece as I fell to the floor with a thud on the wood of my ship.

Yet I was back on my feet quicker than I thought I'd be, as Mustache girl was already behind me and helped me to my feet.

We exchanged a quick smile before we turned our attention back to the Lazy Paw gang member, who had already turned invisible. Mustache girl and I silently agreed to stand back to back, as I held my umbrella out in front of me, while she beared her two fists. We watched the ground for the faint paw prints the cat made so it wouldn't get the jump on us, and I noticed it was circling us like some kind of shark. It kept quickly edging closer, as it's circle continued to shrink in size, until finally I noticed it's boots start to become visible again. Before it even had the chance to think about attacking, I hit it in the face with my umbrella so hard the cat flew off away from the ship and into space, dropping the Time Piece as it slowly fell to the floor thanks to the lower gravity.

Mustache girl fetched it this time, and held out firmly in her hand, keeping it closer to her body to protect it. I gave her a thumbs up in a approval, which she traded for a smile and a nod.

"How many did these guys break again?" Mustache girl shouted over all the noise that came from all our friends fighting off the cats.

I thought for a moment, counting them mentally as I remembered the events quickly.

"I'm pretty sure it was three! Now, where could the last two be..." I pondered, scanning the ship for any sign of the relics.

I after looking past a few more cats fighting Mafia goons and chasing Express Owls (I made a mental note to help them out once the Time Pieces were recovered) I saw that near the left corner of the spaceship stood Snatcher, who was hunched over and flailing his arms slightly, as a Lazy Paw gang cat held a Time Piece in their hands, desperately out running the circles of black and orange lasers Snatcher was chasing them with, as he chuckled to himself.

I wrapped my arm around Mustache girl's waist and swung my hookshot off of a Goat's horn to get there quicker, landing in front of Snatcher as he smiled to himself as per usual while he played cat and mouse with this feline.

"Hey Snatcher, having any trouble taking down this guy? Need any help?" I questioned him with a smile.

Snatcher shook his head as he began laughing some more, creating more and more attacks for the bandit to outrun while they screamed like a kitten.

"Oh no, I'm still having my fun with this one. I just thought they deserved just the tiniest bit of torture for causing this whole mess. This furry nuisance even tried attack me! ME! The fool didn't even know I'm only vulnerable when I'm blue! HAH!" Snatcher gloated, as he continued to toy with the creature.

Out of the corner of my eye I noticed one of their ears perk up when Snatcher was talking. They stopped dodging the attacks for a moment to slam the Time Piece onto the ground, as Snatcher turned a bright blue right in front of our eyes thanks to the relic. Stunned by the cat's cleverness, he stopped attacking for a moment, which gave them enough time to place their fingers in their mouth and whistle. Suddenly, I saw a circle of around ten Lazy Paw gang cats all become visible around Snatcher, as he groaned and shook his head.

"Ugh, you know I REALLY have to stop saying that." Snatcher criticised himself.

Snatcher took a swing with one of his claws at the group, slashing at three of them and throwing them up into the air, and then shooting them while they were up there with a horde of blue potions that briefly circled around him.

However, he didn't hit every cat, as the ones that were left started slashing at him furiously, making Snatcher clench his teeth together in pain as he teleported a short distance away from them all.

Mustache girl and I ran over to the Lazy Paw gang cats, as she threw a punch that landed right in one of their faces, making them stumble backwards and fall to the floor, and she used this opportunity to kick them off of the main part of the ship, as they landed with a thud onto the ship's engine, but then bounced off and fell into space. 

Meanwhile, I swung at one of the cats with my umbrella, which knocked them into two other cats. Posthaste, I dug a hand into my pocket and brought out my projectile badge, and fired my own laser at them all, evaporating them.

I looked back at Snatcher, to find a couple had gotten past us and were currently biting and throwing their claws onto the ghost's long arms, while he slammed one into the ground and violently shook the other in an attempt to get them off of him.

Mustache girl switched to her Nyakuza mask and ears and began throwing her exploding dollars at the gang on Snatcher's arm, hitting two of them. As she was doing that, I began aiming with my umbrella at the three remaining cats, closing one eye at looking at them with the other. I was taking such careful aim to make sure I absolutely wouldn't hit Snatcher and cause him more pain.

So I waited...and waited...an-FIRED! The laser beam shot out of my weapon in an instant, as the fully charged blast had managed to completely obliterate the cats on Snatcher's right arm. As I did this, Snatcher also slammed his arm into the ground one final time, and crushed the last Lazy Paw gang member holding onto it. 

With these cats defeated, Snatcher joined Mustache girl and I at the edge of the ship, still blue, and suddenly not all too egar for more combat in his current state.

"You know kid, as soon as we find all these Time Pieces, you're going to have to change me back, you know that?" Snatcher explained, slightly on edge and watching his back for any more invisible cats.

Mustache girl nodded, staring at the Time Pieces clutched firmly in her hand.

"Yeah yeah, we will don't worry. There's only one Time Piece left to find anyway, hopefully we can find the cat with the last one before they use it to cause any damage." Mustache girl told him, as we scanned the whole ship and searched for the remaining cat with the Time Piece.

However, what was strange was...we couldn't find them. Snatcher even floated a little above the ship (to both avoid getting hit more) and to search more efficiently, and still came up empty handed once he returned to us, while Mustache girl and I looked at all the cats fighting and kept track of all the invisible Lazy Paw gang members, as each one of them that reappeared seemed to have no trace of the last Time Piece on them. Did they break it? But, if they did, surely they would've done something smarter with it? Right?

"HEY KID!" The distinct voice of a Metro cat shouted from behind the three of us.

Mustache girl, Snatcher and myself all turned behind us, facing noting but space. Then I looked down, and saw a Nyakuza cat standing on the engine of the ship (which is was also the main thing that propelled it forward in space travel, like a sort of exhaust), clutching a Time Piece.

However, before any of us could react, he black cat threw the Time Piece straight at us, using it as a projectile. Lukcily, I watched it go right past my head...and hit Mustache girl square in the face, breaking on impact. Glass shot out from Mustache girl's forehead in all directions, as she began to stumble backwards as she started to sway back and forth, clearly losing her balance, and grip on the Time Piece in her hand.

The sight of her like this made me sick to my stomach. I clenched my fists tight and gritted my teeth, as I felt like snapping the wood of my umbrella's handle out of pure rage that the cat just threw such a powerful relic at one of the people I cared about so deeply in the world. No longer caring about anything else and acting on impulse, I turned away from Mustache girl for a moment and back to the cat, who I could tell was grinning at me from behind that mask.

I fired at laser from my umbrella at him, after fully charging it. However, the cat was crafty, and jumped from of the ship's engines to the other, jumping away from an explosion that I my laser caused. I didn't think about how that happened at the time though, this cat needed to pay. I fired once again at the cat, and this time used my Time Stop Hat to make sure they wouldn't avoid it. And it worked, as the laser hit the cat, and they were nowhere to be found, the only trace of them was now two gaping holes in my spaceship's engines.

I turned back to Mustache girl who was still swaying back and forth, barely being able to keep her eyes open as Snatcher tried holding her up. As her grip loosened on the Time Piece in her hand. I turned to Snatcher, who shared my concerned expression on his ocean blue face.

"Mustache girl? Are you ok? Can you speak? We did it, we beat th-," suddenly, a loud crash, almost like thunder, cut me off.

I turned around, as a look of horror planted itself firmly on my face. The back part of my spaceship was exploding, clouds of orange and black gas errupted from it as the I started to smell smoke. Fire. The realisation hit me that this was going on because I had stupidly blasted one of the most vital parts of my ship with a laser beam. I started to sweat uncontrollably, as my heart began beating faster and faster, and smoke only grew from what was likely to be a burning engine on the inside of the ship.

Suddenly, the spaceship shook, as I fell to the floor, yet I managed to steady myself with my hands as it began to...move? I turned around once again, and saw that the ship was indeed moving, and was in for a crash landing in the ocean around Mafia Town. 

The fighting all around my spaceship ceased, and was instead replaced with screaming and panic from everyone on board. As I was also finding it hard to keep it together, evident from the fact that the constant inhaling and exhaling through my mouth was only increasing, with no signs of slowing down.

I returned my focus back to Mustache girl and Snatcher, as both of their eyes were fixated on the still exploding engine, still shaking the whole ship and propelling it downwards. Mustache girl's eye lids were almost comepltely closed, as that Time Piece certainly did a lot of damage. I turned my attention to Snatcher, with my heart beating out of my chest.

"What do we do?! Snatcher, we have to think of something! Can you stop the fire or the explosions, or something!? Everyone's going to die because of me! I'm sorry! You've gotta be able to get us out of here somehow! R-right?" I begged him in a panic, as my eyes became completely tear filled.

Snatcher gave me a look of concern, and looked around the whole ship, then the planet we were rapidly approaching, then to me as he lit his hand on fire with a blue flame.

"This is everyone right? The Mafia, the Captain, the Seals, the birds, those people from the mountains, those Goats and the cats, right? I don't want to miss anyone kiddo. Because if I do then you're all going to be joining me in the state I'm in." Snatcher explained grimly, attempting to remain calm despite the dire situation.

"And you, Mustache girl and me! Oh! And Rumbi is inside the ship too! Hurry and do something Snatcher! There's got to be some power you have that can help us!" I told him in a panic, as we broke through the planet's atmosphere.

Snatcher gave me a nod, then snapped the fingers of his burning hand, as it looked as if the whole top of the spaceship was engulfed in a purple fog...

In the blink of an eye I found myself standing on some kind of soft, moving substance. I checked my feet, and as the fog faded away, I saw it was...sand? My head jolted up as I checked around the area. I appeared to be on a beach. There was a crab walking away from my foot and burying itself in the sand, a beachball not too far away, and the ocean splashing against the landscape, with the cawing of seagulls above. But this wasn't just any beach, as I turned around I recognised the area in a heart beat. This, was Mafia Town. With the architecture and unusually unguarded cave entrance being a dead giveaway.

One feature that it did not associate with the town however, were all the purple smoke clouds behind me, all of varying sizes. But, they didn't last long, as they quickly faded away to reveal...some Express Owls. Then, Goats. Then Nomads. Then Mafia. As more and more people emerged from the smoke, I felt a smile start to replace all the concern I had on my face. Snatcher had done it. He...saved everyone. I saw Seals wipe tears from their eyes and begin to smile again as they saw their Captain appear. I saw Mafia goons begin to dance in celebration that they were alive. Moon Penguins cheered as DJ Grooves showed himself once the smoke around him faded away. Cooking Cat breathed a sigh of relief as she recognised that she had found herself back in Mafia Town. Rumbi did a backflip out of joy when it saw me from the back of the crowd. All of them...were safe.

And then, right next to me, the largest smoke cloud of all faded out into the air. Snatcher. More specifically, Snatcher and Mustache girl, as he held her in his still blue palm, and gently rested her down on the sand.

My beating heart was no longer filled with worry and fear, but complete excitement and gratitude as I wrapped them both up in the biggest hug I could give them.

"WE DID IT! We did it we did it we did it we did it! We're alive! Snatcher, you saved us all! Thank you thank you thank you thank you so much buddy! You're the bestest best friend ever! In the whole wide world!" I celebrated, nuzzling my head against Snatcher's furry neck as he leaned down to me, and Mustache girl's hair.

Snatcher wrapped his arms around Mustache girl and I, which longer felt cold at all strangely enough, as he closed his eyes and smiled.

"Nah, you are kid. But I'll take that title off your hands if you'd like. And what? Did you think I was just going to let you all die?...Ok I wouldn't actually blame you for thinking that, but still. You're going to need some people around if staying here for good kid." Snatcher explained, as we both pulled out of the hug.

I could hear my heart beat only getting faster, beating a million miles a minute, no, two million! The smile on my face stretched across it completely, as I began jumping in the air and spreading out my arms in excitement. I was staying. I was staying on my favourite planet in the whole universe.

"HECK YEAH! I'M AN "EARTHLING" NOW! WOOHOO!" I shouted in pure glee, staring up at the orange sky as I jumped in the air.

The crowd behind me began to cheer and clap, giving me a very warm welcome here, as I began to radiate gratitude. I would've gone around hugging every single person, even a few of the trouble making cats who were keeping themselves quiet in the back. That is, if I didn't see Mustache girl raise the Time Piece she had in her shaky hand skyward.

My heart lost all momentum in that moment, as I completely ceased my jumping and kneeled down at her side.

She was smiling, and trying to force her eyes to stay open, which definetly didn't appear to be working, but she turned her gaze to me, and handed me the Time Piece.

"T-...turn S-snatcher b-back to n-normal, th-then all th-these T-time P-p-pieces will b-be gone..." Mustache girl explained, forcing a smile on her tired face.

I did as she said. I took the Time Piece from her hand and broke it on the ground, with no objects this time, as Snatcher regained his usual (and non-vulnerable) color scheme.

He smiled down at us both, as he looked at his once again black ghostly body in satisfaction. 

"Thank you kid. I don't know what I'd do without you. Either of you." Snatcher told his, gratefully.

We both smiled up at him too, before I turned my attention back to Mustache girl, who had lowered her arm, and her eyes were almost entirely shut by now.

I grabbed her hand, and clutched it tight. Tighter than I'd ever held anything in my whole life.

"Are you going to be ok?! Mustache girl please, I don't know what I'd do if y-you...you know..." I couldn't bring myself to say it.

Mustache girl let out a weak chuckle, and shook her head.

"I'm not g-gonna die! Hahaha-," she stopped laughing, and clutched her head in pain before continuing,"...ugh, I do h-have o-one heck of a he-ead ache th-though...I just need s-some...r-rest..." Mustache girl explained weakly, as she brought her arm away from her forehead.

She finally shut her eyes, and smiled. My heart stopped for a moment, as I couldn't bear the thought that she might actually be wrong about that...but I was proved wrong, as I noticed her chest moving in and out, as I felt her breath on my face.

...And then, something else happened. It was strange, that's for sure. Something, almost comparable to an electrical spark, appeared in the air above her head, eye level with Snatcher. Then, a circular shape started to form, almost from nothing, as began to gain pink, no, slightly purple color...and a spiral pattern.

I let out a gasp, as my eyes expanded in size. Admittedly, I should've proabbly guessed this would happen. Purple time rifts occur when striking someone on the head with a Time Piece after all, and since the one the Nyakuza cat threw didn't do anything, it only really made sense that it was because a Time Rift was forming.

I looked up at Snatcher, and pulled out my umbrella once again, giving him a determined stare.

"I'm going in buddy. Could you give me a lift? Oh, and if Mustache girl wakes up while I'm in there, take care of her, ok?" I told him firmly.

He smiled slightly, and scooped me up in his claw, raising me off of the ground.

"I know you are kid. And, of course I will. Now you be careful! It would be pretty ironic if you met your end in there after only just being able to safely live here now." Snatcher told me firmly, still maintaining his dark mindset, but I could tell it was just his way of showing concern.

I nodded at him, knowing that he was absolutely right...even if I honestly had a bigger concern going in there. But, I didn't tell him that, or anyone in the crowd listening for that matter.

When he finally held me up high enough to touch the orb, the whole world froze around me briefly, as what almost appeared to be static filled my vision. Then not a moment later, I saw the Time Rift expload into a white light, absorbing everything around me.

And just as quickly as it came, the light disappeared. And I found myself standing...in my room in my spaceship? The only major difference was the fact that the metal exit to this part of the rift stood inside my pillow fort, and there were two books sat on the floor in front of it.

Before I inspected them though, I decided to sit down in the chair at my desk one, last time. Taking in everything. My drawings, the door, counting the pillows, Snatcher's candles, my bed that uh, admittedly hadn't been used in a while, thanks to me wanting to spend the night in the pillow fort with Mustache girl so often. I even walked over to, and opened, my closet. Revealing no skeletons anymore, but instead all my outfits I had collected that were neatly hung up by my past self. All of this was going to be gone once my ship crash landed onto the planet and my room either burned, or was just destroyed from the impact. So I figured I might as well just take it all in, one final time. 

After spending a few minutes having my last swim in the pillow fort (and made a mental note to make a second one for wherever I decided to stay on earth), I decided to finally take a look at the two books on the floor in front of the fort that I didn't recognise.

The first was a small, pink book, that was turned to the back. It didn't feature any words on the back either, which I found rather odd. What was even stranger though, was the fact that when I attempted to pick it up, the book was almost glued to the floor, and wasn't budging an inch. I tried opening it too, and still nothing.

The red book to the left of it however, was turned to the front cover (which was helpful as this book didn't allow me to pick it up either). And on it, it read, "My diary, -Mu." 

I smirked at the fact Mustache girl's "journal" was indeed titled a diary, and found a bit of humour in the fact I was right that they were essentially the same thing, since we used them for the same purpose and everything. Although, as much as I wanted to, I didn't try opening it. Even if I couldn't, I didn't want to try. You don't just snoop around in someone's diary like that! It's mean! Besides, Purple rifts have Story books anyway. So that would tell me what I needed to take away from the rift...even if the curiosity of what was inside was completely eating away at me, I used all my will power to resist.

Finally, after taking a last look at my room and saying my goodbyes to all my precious toys (I'm going to miss my Teddy bear and Crow plushies the most, they're collecters items...and my favourites to snuggle on lonely days in space), I finally hopped inside the metallic, cylindrical exit to this area of the rift, and entered the next, as my vision became overflowing with shinning light once again.

Once my eyes became clear again, the second part of the rift definetly showed itself off as drastically different to the first. For starters, I landed on a boat at the start of the rift, with the Mafia with the goofy glasses sailing forward, across a seemingly endless oily ocean. The ocean contained some strange sights for sure. There was a giant Mafiabot, whose head and glowing red eyes were all that was visible in the thick, black liquid below. The only things that looked safe to jump on here were that robot, but also...chains? They stuck out of the oil, almost appearing to be some kind of metal serpent at first. Finally, there was the S.S None of your business, which housed the Mafia Boss' robot body, as it stood up and looked out into the ocean, with it's metal hands behind it's back, but it lacked the jar head it had when Mustache girl and I fought him. And, the exit to the rift was also on the boss' ship, the centre specifically, and it required three Rift Pons to enter.

I found the first one immediately, as it was on top the first chain platform that sat in front of the boat I had appeared on. The second Rift Pon sat on top of the Mafiabot's forehead, and was easy enough to grab, even if it required me to jump across a few more chains in the oil below. I spotted the final Rift Pon that I needed on top of one of the shipping containers that sat on the S.S None of your business. But as I was made my way across the platforms in the oil that lead me towards the ship, I noticed that there was a Storybook page, hiding away inside that same container. Hmmm, I was awfully curious as to what it would be about, so once I finally landed on the ship to get the pon, I made sure to pick it up.

I brought the page close to my face, to see if I could perhaps make some kind of sense of it's contents, however it looked as if right now, it was just a garbled mess of color. It made sense, that's how every other Storybook page looked in the past, but curiosity and an eagerness to know what the story was made me check the paper anyway. I held it tight in my hand, not wanting to let it out of my sight. Despite having all the Rift Pons I needed to enter the metal hatch that would lead me further into the Time Rift, I decided to have one last look around and check if I was missing any pages from this area. It turned out I had missed one underneath the goofy Mafia's seat. What was strange about him here though (besides his natural…um, uniqueness) was the fact that when I accidentally jumped on his head, he didn't say or do anything. It was then I realised that he hadn't said anything to me during my time here, at all. 

I stood on his small wooden boat and stared at him for a bit. He appeared to just be steering the ship, yet as his hands turned on the wooden wheel, the boat stayed stationary.

I shrugged it off as just Time Rifts being weird, but seeing stuff like that was always guaranteed to creep me out a little. Still, I pressed on, and after jumping across some more giant chains and almost tripping and falling into the oil, I had finally made it back to the Mafia Boss' boat, as the metallic, cylindrical exit opened it's hatch automatically when I got near it. I scanned the area from where I stood, just to be sure I didn't miss any Storybook pages, and after confirming I collected them all, I advanced to the next area.

I fell down top of a western building, which appeared to be floating in mid air in this new area. This place seemed to have less to stand on than the first, despite the fact that the area itself was larger. This place was certainly a lot stranger than the first, as it seemed to entirely take place in a completely white void. Looking to my left, I saw that the exit to this part of the rift also needed three Rift Pons to enter, as I had appeared right next to it this time. Ahead of me I saw some...very, odd sights. The first was the Conductor's train, which was floating vertically in mid air. The second, was that surrounding the train, and floating above it, were kernels of popcorn, ten times the size of me. And they certainly big enough to stand on, so I decided to make use of that, especially considering I could already spy that two Rift Pons were floating in the air above two kernels, stationed at the top of the Owl Express. The final peculiar detail here, was the fact that an oversized Nyakuza mask floated to my right, and looked like it had been torn in half. And on it, sat the next Storybook page I needed. So, I grabbed this page too, as well as a fourth I found sat in between two of the Owl Express' train carriages after jumping across some of the popcorn platforms that floated in the air. While I climbed the train, I also grabbed the two Rift Pons that were placed onto the popcorn, as I managed to find a third at the side of the train on my way back down. 

Once I made it back to this area's exit with all the pons I needed, and four pages in hand, I leapt into the metal container, wondering where I would find myself next while I fell.

The first thing that struck me about this area, even before landing in it, was the absolutely frigid temperature. As my teeth began to chatter, and my body began to shake, despite only being the room for barely a second. That's when I felt my feet land on unstable ground, as I started to sink into an sea of pure white. That's when the blizzard kicked in, forcing me to cover my eyes with my arm in an attempt to maintain what little vision I had left. At least one positive was that I had once again appeared right beside the exit, which once again required three Rift Pons to open, and another welcome surprise was the Storybook page I found hidden behind it that was quickly being submerged in snow.

The icy landscape seemed to go on infinitely, with the only semi-distinct features from pure ice and snow in this fog, being the dead, frost covered trees that occasionally made appearances while I attempted to navigate through the tundra. A stroke of luck befell me when I looked up at some trees I'd bumped into, as I saw that a couple contained Rift Pons at the top of them. So, I did what do best and jumped my way up their thin branches to collect the Pons. After making my way through the snow, having to force my freezing legs to trudge through it, I'd finally gotten my hands on enough Rift Pons to escape this place, as well as finding another Storybook page, buried in the snow.

However, making my way back through all the fog, snow flying in my face, and snow on the ground that became thicker and made my legs heavier by the second, was proving to be a difficult task. As I could have sworn I was walking in circles, but I had no way of knowing that, because even though the snow was piling up past half of my chest at this point, whenever I looked behind me I saw that the gap I created in the ice was just immediately filled with more. 

During my search for the exit, I had placed both my arms over my eyes to protect them from all the extreme weather. And because of this, I ended up bumping into something. I expected it to be a tree, or maybe a large limb of snow, or even just a rock...but it was anything but that. The second my arms felt it, the became colder than they'd ever been in my life, as I saw my hands had become entirely white and almost purple in some places from touching it. So, I looked up at what I bumped into...And I felt more frigid than I had been during my whole time inside this section of the rift.

My eyes had met Queen Vanessa's. Their piercing, burning glow made me recoil in sheer terror, as I fell on my back into the snow. I expected to be frozen on the spot, as I was already mentally begging for mercy while I quivered in fear. But, that's when I noticed this dark mess of a person didn't have her attention directed at me...but Snatcher. As one of her clawed hands held the ghost by his throat in front of her, and he was completely frozen solid. As a mixture of terror and heartbreak had made itself a home on his now entirely blue face, with the redness of the widow's eyes reflecting on his.

And to make matters worse, a Storybook page sat right in the centre of them both. Underneath Vanessa's raised arm, and Snatcher's frozen form. I needed to take it...but when I tried reaching for it, my arm didn't respond to it's commands. Nor did the rest of my body, which refused to get up as snow began blanketing it. I think the thought of potentially being buried next to Vanessa and this unsettling image is what gave my body the tiniest bit of strength to yank the Storybook page from between the two of them, and run far, far away from this sight. I couldn't bare to look at my best friend like that, and in that moment I vowed to myself that I would never let that happen to him. Ever.

Still, after a little more running around, with the snow now coming up to my neck, as I began feeling as if I couldn't breathe, I had finally stumbled across the metallic hatch once again, which was almost entirely submerged in the snow now. I didn't waste a single second staying here, and threw myself into that steel exit quicker than I usually run with my sprint hat.

The fifth area of the Time Rift placed me on some nice, green grass. That's all that mattered right now. I decided to just lie down on the grass and dirt in celebration and relief that I finally escaped that place, while I clung onto the seven Storybook pages in my hand like they were a precious jewel I'd stolen from some ancient tomb. My heart was still racing after finding that page in front of Vanessa, and I was relieved to no end that I'd never have to do that again.

After finally relaxing after a couple minutes, and my breathing had returned to normal, I actually started taking in the details of this area. For starters, it was raining. Not as heavily as the snow from the last part of the rift, but it was still falling at a fairly rapid pace. I felt the water tap against my hat, and wash against my skin while I lay down earlier, but payed zero attention to it at the time.

I then realised that, instead of a white void or infinite landscape, this part of the rift looked like...just the dock for the cruise ships. The grass around the first part was here as normal, and the Walrus Captain's battleship was sailing away in the distance. Even Fish Dude was here, as he lay down on the grass and facing the sky as he let the water land onto his scales, soaking into them. The Seal with the walkie talkie flopped around on the right side of the dock itself, meanwhile on the left side sat the metallic hatch that let me move onto the next area of the rift, and it only required two Rift Pons to be opened this time. 

I found the first on top of one of the palm trees here, and noticed that a Storybook page was sitting on top of a lamp post right next to the tree, which I gladly grabbed. I spotted the second Rift Pon lying on top of Fish Dude, jumping on top of him to grab it, as he didn't react. Finally, the last thing I found in this section of the rift was yet another Storybook page, which was hidden behind the Seal's walkie talkie. I dived over to it and picked it up, before I made my way over to the rift's exit, and hopped inside.

The seventh area in this Time Rift was one I recognised immediately. Partially because this appeared to be based on the last area Mustache girl and I visited, and was still fresh in my mind...And also because you can never forget all the neon lights,holograms and unique feeling that came with the Nyakuza Skyline. I found myself standing in front of the rift's exit once again, as this time it needed four Rift Pons to enter it. The object and were planted in the centre of a bustling streets, as Cats walked covered every inch of these dark streets, as I wasn't even a minute into this new location, and already several of the felines walking back and forth had bumped into me. 

The street I was on was quite large, yet was surrounded by buildings on all sides, with only a few alleyways being the exception to this. All of them appeared to be some kind of restaurant, jewelry store, or some kind of store that was shoving holographic advertisements down their customers throats, as each store looked like it was trying to one up each other with their bigger and flashier holograms, which were projected in the streets.

Despite how normal this all seemed for the Nyakuza, I somehow felt like something was ever so slightly...off. Like, this was almost, how all these cats acted, and the ones here were all just cheap imitations. Not only that, I started to feel...An uneasiness in the air. Like my every move was being payed attention to, and monitored somehow.

I looked away from the streets and into the cloudy night sky in an attempt to divert my attention away from this feeling, but that only seemed to strengthen it, as my chest felt like it kept being tied into a knot over and over and over and it wasn't going to stop.

Although there was another thing that I noticed while looking up. That there was one tall, black building that stood far higher than the rest. And I knew the sight instantly, as a shiver ran through me upon viewing it again. What caused my to shiver a second time though, was the sight of the top floor. I saw that the window was broken, as glass was flying out into the air away from it, but was levitating, completely stationary in the air. But the glass shards weren't alone, as I saw that a large black feline, one that was reaching one of her clawed paws towards the room in a panic, stayed motionless in the air too. As the glass nor the cat fell. They just...sat there. Frozen in the moment.

Another cat accidentally ramming their shoulder in face broke my train of thought. Although at this point I wasn't too sure if it was a mistake anymore, from how frequently this was happening. I glared at the cat who did it, watching as they walked off stiffly. Then, I noticed something else. These cats, all had a badge stuck in their fur. It was completely red, besides the white spiral pattern that ran through the object. It then gave me the idea to inspect some of the cat's eyes, as I hadn't really been paying them much attention and subconsciously just thought they'd be the same as always. But when I actually stopped to look at them while I walked through these streets, still on the hunt for Pons and pages, my own eyes widened out of sheer surprise. These Metro cats all had red eyes, with a white spiral continuously spinning inside of them. The idea alone made me want to throw up after seeing it, and the cat's own version of brainwashing, the concept itself made me just feel completely uncomfortable, as I grimaced at the sight of them.

I ran around these streets and did my best to ignore all the strangeness that came with it's inhabitants, and just focused on tracking down these Rift Pons...And I ended up finding the three Storybook pages first. Each one of them was hidden in one of the alleyways, and one was even inside a dumpster, and that dumpster also happened to feature two Nyakuza jackets that I had stitched together. But, where could those Rift Pons be? I'd scoured every corner of the large, open streets and was still coming up empty handed. My stomach let out a growl, as I remembered I'd skipped breakfast this morning. I figured I might as well go buy some food from one of the food trucks around here, while I continued my search for even a single pon. 

...I took one look at the menu at the side of the food trucks I'd stopped at, and slapped myself in the forehead with the palm of my hand. 

"Menu items include: X1 Rift Pon $0.00" The truck read.

With a groan, I asked the twitchy Nomad for a Rift Pon, and as easy as that, I'd finally collected one here. I spent the next couple minutes avoiding the gaze of the cats as I made my way over to each of the four food trucks in the area, and ordered a Rift Pon. So much for them exclusively selling food.

Still, that didn't matter, as I was eager to finally leave this part of the Time Rift, as I held my twelve pages in hand and had collected all the pons I needed, I jumped into the metal hatch, that lead me down into the final room of the rift.

And it ended where it began, as I once again found myself in my spaceship. Specifically, my room. This time though, it was dark. As my room's lights had been turned off for what I could only assume was night. But, they wouldn't come back on, even when I tried the switch. 

At the top of the pillow fort, sitting right in front of the window, was a purple Time Rift, just beginning to be broken. But my face dropped when I realised what it contained. What it had to contain...because of course they couldn't all be gone…

Delaying the inevitable, I decided to once again take a look around my room, when I saw that the books that were in front of my pillows earlier, were missing. Sort of. I saw that there were three pages all lying on the floor, that had been taken out of one of the books. And in the right corner of the fort, I saw that the pink book from earlier was lying down on the pillows, this time with the cover visible from the top, but I wasn't close enough to see it. I decided I'd start with the pages on the floor first, since they were the closest. So, I began to read the first one.

"Dear diary, oh my gosh so much happened today it's going to be hard to write it all down. So, the day began pretty bad honestly. I mean, the Mafia Boss was NOT playing around with that new body of his! He threw me in his stupid prison cell and told me he was gonna KILL ME the next day! So yeah, that sucked. But then...Hat kid came along. She saved me. I can't thank her enough, I just...I don't know what to say. I want to say everything to her. I want to hold her close and never let her go. She makes me so happy! The fact she forgave me, after everything I'd done to her, after all that mean stuff I said about her, after how much of a bad guy I was being...She still helped me. I'm not screwing this up. I'm going to be better. I owe it to her." The page read.

...I know earlier said reading people's diaries was rude (and the fact Mustache girl wrote dear diary when even I don't do that made me giggle a little), but curiosity completely overtook my body, and I couldn't help but read the rest. And everything she said there, about me...it made my heart thump in my chest a little faster with each word I read.

...And...maybe I could just...take a teeny, tiny peek at the second page on the floor. It probably wasn't her diary AGIAN right? Yeah. Yeah I didn't think it would be. Not at all...maybe.

"Dear diary...I hate this. Well, I don't. Do I? This just feels so weird! I'm getting so bad at hiding it too. Every time I'm around her I just want to tell her how I feel. I think I might just spit it out by accident at some point. And, this one time, I think it was a few days ago, I was so, so, so close to leaning onto her and just kissing her already. That would've been the best day of my life right there. And I wanted to so badly...but then Snatcher had to come in and ruin the moment. Well, honestly he's been helping me a lot. Especially since he gave me that book. He knows his stuff about talking to girls. He's had some pretty bad luck with exactly who he's talked to though. Like, HORRIBLE luck. Anyway, back on topic because I'm running out of space for today. I keep meaning to tell her how I feel, or just slipping it into conversation at some point. Do something super smooth like, "Have you ever kissed someone before?," then, I give her the biggest smooch of her life and say, "Well now you have. Want another cutie?" But I'm always way too scared to do it. I'm scared of nothing and no one! So why I am scared of telling the person I care about the most how I feel about her? I would write I'll tell her tomorrow again, but I know I won't." The entry read.

My heart was beating like a drum. No, louder than that. Way, louder than that. My face was on fire. Every inch of me felt so alive and full of joy...but...there's no way she could've been talking about me...right? She had to be referring to another person, and this entry was just old. Yeah...but, that mention of Snatcher would say otherwise. I didn't want to make an excuse for reading the third page on the ground this time. I just had to know what it said after all that.

"Dear diary, Hat Kid finally told me why she can't stay on this planet. I feel like she just put my heart through a blender. And then put the blender in a microwave. Then hit it with a hammer. She said she wanted to stay so badly, and I tried offering her ways to destroy this awful Time Pieces, but she rejected them all. Saying it wouldn't work. She said the only way to get rid of them safely, would be for them to be destroyed by something that can't influence what the Time Pieces create or change time. So I can't just jump in that vault and start jumping on them. You'd need something that can't really think to break them, something like an object. Except, you can't be holding the object. Because then you're still the one breaking it. It's weird. And I don't want to just grab them all at once and stick them under a boulder or something. Because I saw what happened when those bird guys smashed two Time Pieces at once, and the whole desert was almost destroyed! I've been up all night trying to think of something, ANYTHING that can get rid of these stupid hourglasses that Hat Kid has had to deal with her whole life. It isn't fair. We're kids, we shouldn't have to worry about accidentally destroying all of time. There's got to be something I can destroy them with individually, and consistently, that doesn't have any direct link to me like a baseball bat would or something. Like, you'd need some kind of, wireless machine crushing them one by one or something. Wait a minute THAT'S IT! THAT'S WHAT I NEED! WHAT SHE NEEDS! I'M GOING TO FIX EVERYTHING RIGHT NOW!" The final page on the ground read.

I realised that this must have been what she wrote last night. And...that wasn't an idea I'd ever actually thought of before. And...It worked! Mustache girl found a way to destroy the Time Pieces, without messing up all of time in the process! I smiled from ear to ear, squealing a little from excitement that what she did for me actually worked! And once I got out of this rift, I could finally, finally get to live on my favourite planet, with my favourite people, in the whole universe.

I ran up the right side of the pillow fort, and made my way to the purple Time Rift in front of the window. Barely containing my excitement and giddiness, I hit it as hard as I could with my umbrella, and sent it flying into the left corner of the room, leaving multiple large cracks in it. But, I needed to finish the job. I dived over to the rift and gave it a second smack with my umbrella, as it then bounced into the right corner of the fort, right next to the pink book that sat on top of the pillows.

I turned my attention towards that book just for a second, and read the title.

"Snatcher's guide to talking to girls (you're welcome kid)" The title of the book read.

I raised an eyebrow high up my forehead. Why would Snatcher make something like that? And who for? It couldn't possibly be for me, then, who?...Wait...could it be M-, no, no, that's ridiculous. No way she'd ever want something like that!...But…if that book was for her...how come Snatcher never told me he gave her that? 

I decided it would be best to simply ask him that myself later, and focused on getting out of here. So, I put all the force in my body into moving the umbrella behind my head, placing both hands on it, and swinging it at the rift! 

The rift exploded immediately, as light emerged from every angle of the space it once occupied, as the world around me began to fade away into white too, returning me to the planet I now call home. I should've been celebrating. I should've been bouncing off the walls in pure joy and happiness...but the fact that a Time Piece had emerged from that Purple Rift, like in every other rift, was soul crushing. Just when I thought I was rid of them, here's one more Time Piece that came to make everyone's lives actively worse. However, with a sigh the oozed complete and utter resentment, I picked it up from the air around me, as Mafia Town began fading back into view. The real Mafia Town.

I emerged from the rift in the same place I was before, the beach. Only this time with significantly less people here than before, with just a few Mafia lying down on the sand and watching the sun come up. Well, that's not all they were staring at. Right there, in the ocean in front of them, was a ship. Not a boat. But a spaceship. My spaceship. It had crashed and half buried itself in the water, with half of it sticking out, while the majority of it was completely scorched due to burning up in the atmosphere, and the engine's explosion likely accelerating that.

It felt so...so...surreal. My mouth hung open in complete shock and awe that the place I used to call home, that I knew inside and out, and was basically the only consistent place in my life was just….destroyed. Beyond repair. And here it sat in the water, likely stuck in the sand below it and probably completely flooded and broken. 

I stood there for around five minutes, Time Piece and Storybook pages in hand as I gazed at my former spacecraft. I noticed that guy who carries around a bunch of cameras showed up on the beach during this time and start taking pictures. Probably to send to that Steve guy or something. Still, I would've taken pictures too in his position...But honestly? Despite all the memories I had in that ship, I knew I was going to be happier here. I could finally just...relax. No more stress of having the whole universe on my shoulders. No more goodbyes to friends I wish I could've spent more time with. I was finally free. And I guess I had these Mafia to thank, in a way. As one of these guys is the reason I originally got stranded here, and I wouldn't have it any other way now that I've met all the amazing people I have. People I care so, so deeply about. They mean everything to me. Everyone on this planet does. And now? I got to settle down here with them...hmmm...now that I thought about it...where was I going to stay?

"Hey kid! You're finally out of that time, thing!" Snatcher shouted to me from behind.

I turned around, and saw him flying towards me with a huge smile on his face. Well, he was nearly always smiling. But this smile wasn't one of malice or taking joy out of someone's misfortune. This smile...was genuinely, happy. Happy for someone other than himself. He outstretched his arms, and so did I as I jumped onto my purple pal and gave him the hug he deserved, while returned the gesture.

"How long was I in there for?" I questioned him, slightly concerned that I'd spent a whole year in there and that was why he was so happy to see me, since time tends travel at radically different speeds in Time Rifts.

Snatcher and I let go of each other, as he took off my hat and ruffled my hair a little with his hand.

"You only missed a day kiddo. I mean, your ship over there made one heck of crash, I heard that thing hit the ground from my forest! But that doesn't matter now. You're back! And you're actually staying here this time! This is going to be gre-...um, kid? Why do you have a Time Piece?" Snatcher asked me in confusion, his enthusiasm immediately dying down.

I looked at it and frowned, as the sight of the relic just made me feel sick on the inside.

"It was from the rift...I-...I need to get rid of it. I don't want anyone using this thing. It's got to be destroyed." Explained to him, placing the Time Piece under my arm, no longer wanting to look at it anymore.

Snatcher thought for a moment and stroked his furry neck, before smiling again, and leaning down to point at the Time Piece I held.

"You know, I don't know if the Mafia dismantled Mustache girl's machine yet. I could take you there, and we could see if we can destroy it that way?" Snatcher offered, already lighting his hand on fire with a blue flame, and putting his two fingers together, getting ready to snap them.

I shook my head with a smile.

"Thank you Snatcher. But, I think I want to go tell Mustache girl something first,now that I'm going to be living here. I'll deal with this stupid thing later. What I need to tell her is um, p-pretty important," I saw Snatcher begin grinning cheekily now, as he noticed me fiddling with my zipper on my clothes in nervousness, and my face proabbly going pink, "aaaannddd you know exactly what I'm talking about don't you?"

Snatcher ruffled my hair once again, chuckling lightly.

"Sure do kiddo. Well, at least you won't have to worry about hiding it from her anymore. Not that you were too good at it to begin with heheheh. Anyway, I'd say you should proabbly look at those pages or whatever they're called from the rift if you haven't already." Snatcher told me, still smiling.

I rolled my eyes at his teasing, I'd gotten pretty used to it at this point. Deciding I should probably change the subject from Mustache girl, I looked down at the Storybook in my hand, and began to look at the pictures.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


A strange wave of what was almost nostalgia ran over me as I remembered the event. It all seemed so long ago now...then, I noticed Snatcher leaning over my shoulder with a smirk.

"Weeeeellllll kid? What do you think of that? That first page was just adorable! Heheh, seems like she's very fond of you, especially here, heheh." Snatcher placed one of his claws on the last picture.

I doubted my face looked too dissimilar to Mustache girl's in that final page at this point. I tucked the pictures into my pockets and placed the Time Piece inside my hat, before running off, as my face was completely burning, and my heart felt like it was going to explode.

"IHAVETOGONOWSNTAHCERBYE!" I shouted to him in a hurry, running away from him out of sheer embarrassment.

"Hehehehe, see you later! Knock 'em dead kid! I know you will." Snatcher shouted back to me, while I was fueled by sheer adrenaline and excitement as I ran off towards Mustache girl's cave.

I had no idea what I was going to say. I'd never really done anything like this before. Ever. I guess it was because I'd never felt like this before about anyone. Mustache girl was just so special to me, and I felt that now I'd be staying here for good, now seemed like a better time than any to tell her exactly how I felt about her...The only problem was, I was already so close to her cave, and I had no idea what to say.

I was panting after sprinting over here so fast, as I just couldn't wait to tell her anymore. I leaned my arm on the rock wall in front of the cave and took in as many breaths as I could, as quickly as I could.

Suddenly, I heard footsteps coming from inside the cave walking up to me, and it wasn't long before Mustache girl poked her head out from inside her cave, and found me.

She immediately wrapped me up in a hug, picking me up off my feet as she squeezed me tighter than I'd ever been held in my whole life.

"Hat Kid! You're back from the rift! Snatcher told me you went in there and I was so...worried about you. I'm so happy you're ok Hat Kid!" Mustache girl explained, as a smile was sprawled across her whole face.

I let out a chuckle after taking in a couple more breaths.

"Hehe I'm more than just ok Mustache girl! I'm here! With you! On earth! I LIVE ON EARTH! This is so awesome! It's crazy! I can't wait to explore every inch of this planet! And I want to do it all with you by my side Mustache girl!" I explained to her, absolutely beaming at the girl.

She was jumping up and down on the spot from sheer excitement alone, as I did the same.

"You mean it?!" Mustache girl gasped in sheer joy.

I punched the air with my first.

"Heck yeah I do! We're gonna do everything together Mustache girl!" I exclaimed, unable to contain my exhilaration.

We stood there just giggling for a few minutes, as we began day dreaming about all the fun we'd constantly be having now I didn't have to leave. It was going to be...perfect~

Strangely though, Mustache girl gradually stopped giggling, instead adopting a tiny smile on her face as she moved her hair around her finger, looking at floor away from me, going slightly red faced.

"W-well, now that you're h-here I-, for good I mean, I have s-something to tell you Hat Kid. It's um...It's important. Really, really important actually." Mustache girl admitted, swallowing as she avoided making eye contact, going redder by the second.

Instantly, I could tell what she was referring to, as I realised that this face, and many others she made prior, definitely resembled that last page of the Storybook.

I gulped, and placed a hand behind my head and started fiddling with my ponytail, as an uncontrollable smile expanded across my face, as my heart sounded like a ticking time bomb at this point.

"Y-y-yeah, I um, have s-something t-to tell you too…" I explained, as my breathing pace increased slightly from sheer nervousness alone.

Mustache girl's eyes looked like they grew double the normal size they usually were, as calling her face merely red would have been the biggest understatement of the century.

"O-oh? Y-you...you...uh, um...c-ca-can you g-go fffirst? I st-still need to think of h-how to s-say wh-what I want t-to...tell you…" Mustache girl stuttered, as I doubted she'd be able to form proper sentences soon.

In all honesty, I had no clue how I was going to say what I wanted to say either, as a million ideas ran through my brain. What's she going to think? Will she hate me? Should I even say it? What if she thinks it's weird? What if I-...what if...what if I was just honest with her?

I took a deep breath in through my mouth, and exhaled through it too, composing myself a little. Next, I stopped messing with my hair, and grabbed her hands, holding them in mine. She seemed caught slightly off guard by the gesture, but instantly looked comfortable as she tightly gripped my hands. She gazed into my eyes, as they were completely filled stars, mesmerized. As I gazed back, giving her a smile. No more stuttering. No more getting out of this. No more hiding it. Do it. Tell her.

"Mustache girl. You are the greatest person I've ever met. Sure, you've made some mistakes, but who cares about that? You've moved past it. You've changed. You've become such an amazing person in my life, and, even if you went about it differently back then, you've always only wanted the best for people. And that's...that's beautiful. You're beautiful. You've saved my life so many times, and you've helped me so much on this adventure, and I know we'll help each other on so many more. I want to spend my whole life with you Mustache girl, because I-...I-...I-, um...I-," sweat poured down my face as I had finally reached the moment I'd been dreading the most, saying it,"I-...I love you. So, so much. You're so pretty and cute and that mustache is amazing and you're so kind, and I can't stop thinking about you and you mean everything to me and I-, I-...I-...oh forget it." 

I was never really good with words. This was the best I could do in that regard…

...because instead of telling her how much she meant to me, I leaned in close to her face, and pressed my lips against hers. And I kissed her. 

Heaven. That's the only way I could describe it. Heaven. The feeling. The rush. If my heart felt like it was exploding before, it certainly did now. That feeling of being so close to her, so honest with how I felt was something I'd only hope to dream of, but...it was actually happening. That feeling was only made ten times more exciting when she wrapped her arms around me. Without a word, I knew she felt the same way. And I just...this was the best day of my life~

I could tell neither of us wanted to stop. This exciting feeling of complete happiness and joy was the greatest thing that had ever happened to me. I finally opened my eyes, and saw that she still had her's closed, as she relished in the moment. We continued for a couple minutes after that. I think. Neither of us were counting really, it could've gone on for five seconds, five minutes, five years, what did it matter? What mattered was that, we'd done it. And that it was beautiful~

When we finally parted lips, and held each other in our arms, giving each other the biggest smiles of our lives, we started giggling again. We couldn't help it, my heart was still rushing full of non-stop excitement, and I knew her's was doing the same. But, I decided to stop giggling for a second, to ask her something.

"Hehehehe so, what were you going to tell me? Hehehehe that was amazing…" I questioned her, going right back to laughing.

Mustache girl lowered her eyebrows and gave me a grin.

"Oh shut up, you know I was gonna tell you the same thing. You're just way sweeter than I am, so you're better at it hehehe." Mustache girl giggled.

We sat there giggling for a bit longer, and we both begrudgingly pulled our arms away from each other, instead just holding both of the other's hands as we smiled.

"Well, you're the pretty one, hehe." I admitted to her, as her voice sounded like music to me.

"You're prettiiiieeerrrr hehehe. Oh wait wait wait, I've got something to ask you now! Hehe." Mustache girl told me with a grin.

"Well go on! I'm all ears!" 

Mustache girl took a deep breath, before giggling again. However, she stopped herself so she could actually speak, as her giddiness only rubbed off on me, as did mine on her.

"Do you...maybe...um...can I...be um...does this make us girlfriends? I've uh, never h-had one before. I don't know how it works." Mustache girl asked me, with hope in her voice.

I nodded my head immediately.

"Neither have I. But, I'd say it does...as long as you want to be?" This asked her this time, my voice filled with glee.

Mustache girl picked me up off the ground and hugged me again, with a tighter one this time.

"Of course I do!" Mustache girl exclaimed happily.

She put me down back on the rocks, as both of us were absolutely ecstatic about everything that just happened as smiles and joy had completely absorbed us, when Mustache girl looked at her cave, then back at me, with a concerned stare.

"W-wait. Now you live here, on this planet, and uh you're spaceship doesn't look...um...functional whatsoever, where are you gonna stay? I don't want you rotting in this cave with me every night." Mustache girl explained regretfully.

I thought for a moment, then smiled at her yet again.

"Don't worry. Let's just say there's someone out there in need of an apprentice hehe, and I may or may not be building a treehouse in their forest at some point...wanna live there with me?" I offered her, hoping that she'd never have to spend another night in this damp, decrepit cave ever again.

Mustache girl absolutely beamed at me, as she gave me yet another nod.

"Of course I do! Oooohhh this is going to be amazing Hat Kid!" Mustache girl exclaimed, bouncing off the walls once again.

"It's already amazing Mustache girl! And it's only going to get better and better and better! Because I'm with you. Let's go!"

And with that, Mustache girl and I began skipping away from her cave, as I was finally living on earth with her. Where I belonged

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading my story! I hope enjoyed it, and a huge thanks to my friend Vinvan Artsy for drawing the Storybook in this chapter! If you're interested in any of her art she's on Twitter, Instagram and Amino! This story was an absolute delight to write the whole way through, and I hope you enjoyed it!

**Author's Note:**

> Hi there, it's Crow, the author of this story! Just wanna say that this is my first post here and want to know what you liked about this, and what you didn't. So I can improve! This story was first posted to A Hat in Time Amino and I decided to put it up here too! Anyway, I just wanna say I release a new part of this series every week! So I'm gonna stop talking now and let you read the rest of the series up to this point.


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